Law enforcement officials were investigating how a stun gun that resembled a cell phone wound up aboard a JetBlue Airways plane at Newark airport.
A cleaning crew found the black stun gun in a black case in a seat-back pocket on Flight 1179 on Friday night after the jet carrying 100 passengers and crew arrived in New Jersey from Boston, authorities and the airline said on Monday.
The weapon was handed over to police by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the investigation was taken over by the FBI, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
Police described the gun as resembling a cell phone, a Port Authority spokesman said.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to provide further details.
It was unknown whether the device was sneaked past security, was placed on the plane after it landed, or belonged to a law-enforcement official, a US source familiar with the investigation said, requesting anonymity.
