A passenger managed to bring a firearm aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Tokyo.

Security screening missed the weapon. It was on the morning of January 3 that a passenger carried the firearm on board the flight from the United States to Japan, CNN reports.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is part of the US Department of the Interior, wrote in its statement that the passenger did not follow routine measures and passed through security with a firearm at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

The passenger reportedly "forgot" that there were firearms in his luggage.

Hundreds of sick calls
The incident was discovered two weeks after parts of the US government were shut down and TSA security personnel were forced to work without pay.

CNN previously reported that hundreds of TSA agents at four major airports have called in sick. However, the TSA says the incident is not related to the government shutdown, and that security checkpoints were fully staffed.

Source: svt.se