Police respond to Hilo Airport after inert grenade found in luggage

The Hilo International Airport experienced a brief halt in operations as Hawai‘i Police Department personnel responded to a report by Transportation Security Administration staff that two items resembling grenades were detected during x-ray screening within a carry-on bag belonging to male Japanese national departing the country.  

The incident was reported early Tuesday morning, July 9, 2024 at 5:44 a.m.  

Responding officers secured and evacuated the terminal area as a precautionary safety measure while the department’s bomb squad arrived on scene and determined the items to be inert grenades.   
 
At 6:45 a.m., police arrested Akito Fukushima, 41, of Kanazawa, Japan, for first-degree terroristic threatening. Fukushima was transported to HPD’s East Hawaiʻi Detention Facility and remains in custody while Detectives of the Area I Criminal Investigation Section continue the investigation. The airport resumed operations at 6:50 a.m.  
 
Police remind the public that replicas of explosives, such as hand grenades, are prohibited in checked and carry-on baggage. TSA officers also have the discretion to prohibit any item through the screening checkpoint if they believe it poses a security threat.