A routine baggage screening at an Alabama airport turned into an extraordinary security incident after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers discovered five Civil War-era cannonballs hidden inside a checked suitcase. The rusted artillery relics, some as large as grapefruits and wrapped individually in paper towels, had allegedly been taken by a teenager from Fort Morgan, a historic military fort overlooking Mobile Bay.

Transportation Security Administration screeners discover all sorts of banned items in luggage, but cannonballs stolen from a Civil War era fort are not an everyday find.

A TSA agent said he got a huge surprise while inspecting a bag as he discovered stolen cannonballs from an historical military base.