Confiscated items sold on eBay

A Pennsylvania company is doing a roaring trade selling items confiscated at security checkpoints over 12 airports in five states, according to a report by Associated Press (AP).

The items, as varied as sausage grinders, bats, man-sized artificial palm trees and even sex toys, have gone on sale on the Internet auction site eBay and are turning a handsome profit running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Many of the items that are confiscated are less outlandish than those listed above, mostly illegal items such as knives or other potential weapons that passengers have forgotten they had packed and could no longer relocate to their checked luggage.

"There are thousands of stories out there on why people either forget or just don't know the rules," TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser told AP.

Federal law allows for the sale of confiscated items by the states themselves and many have taken advantage of the law to raise revenue. The report suggests that the Pennsylvania program alone has brought in more than £300,000 since it started in June 2004.

Organizers are careful to auction the items at appropriate times of the year, with baseball bats listed close to the World Series and knives sold at the height of fishing season.

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