Rapper Plies Arrested At Florida Airport After TSA Agents Allegedly Find Gun, Ammunition In Carry-On Bag

Rapper Plies was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm at Tampa International Airport this week after TSA agents found a gun and ammunition in his carry-on bag.

The 42-year-old rapper, whose real name is Algernod Washington, was passing through a TSA checkpoint Wednesday when agents discovered a 9 mm pistol in his bag, the Miami Herald reports. A loaded magazine was packed next to the weapon, Emily Nipps, a spokeswoman for the Tampa International Airport, told the outlet.

Plies, a resident of Wesley Chapel in Florida, did not have a permit to conceal and carry the gun, a Glock 43 9mm semiautomatic pistol, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Airport police Chief Charlie Vazquez told the paper that Plies likely could have avoided an arrest if he had had a permit; despite it being illegal in Florida to bring a weapon into an airport, Vasquez reports that “in most cases,” offenders would simply be asked to return the weapon to their car.

Per the Transportation Safety Administration’s rules, those traveling with firearms are required to secure their weapons, unloaded, in a “locked, hard-sided container” that can then only be transported in checked baggage — not in carry-ons.

Plies was arrested at around noon Wednesday, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Video shot by Instagram user @twentyy.sixx and posted by The Shade Room appears to show Plies having a brief interaction with airport security officers before being handcuffed. He was booked into the Hillsborough County jail on a charge of carrying a concealed firearm, according to online records, and released that evening after posting $2,000 bail.

According to the online arrest records of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Plies was also arrested last year for driving under the influence.

[Photo: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office]