No longer just for deflecting mind-reading waves from outer space, aluminum foil was allegedly used in an attempt to conceal a firearm on a flight from SFO to Europe. Kerry Lee Bobo, 53, was at SFO last Thursday afternoon to catch a flight to Amsterdam when Transportation Safety Administration screeners apparently "noticed what appeared to be a handgun" in his luggage.

The Smoking Gun has more:

When federal agents opened Bobo’s luggage they found a loaded Sig Sauer .45-caliber handgun “wrapped in aluminum foil” and a taser. They then boarded Bobo’s KLM flight and escorted the Atwater, California resident from the aircraft.

According to officials, he had wrapped the gun in aluminum foil in an attempt thwart x-ray screening devices. In the written complaint, a Homeland Security agent points out, "I know that some people believe--incorrectly--that aluminum foil can somehow block x-ray and other security screening devices."

Saddest of all, Bobo, traveling to Nairobi from Amsterdam, allegedly claimed that he packed the gun for protection from animals. Investigators, however, didn't buy his excuse and arrested him. Bobo was charged with trying to bring a loaded firearm on to an aircraft, a charge that can carry a 10-year maximum prison sentence. He posted $50,000 and was released on Friday.

[Smoking Gun]
[NY Post]