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TSOs Help Avert Potential Kidnapping of 6-Year-Old Girl

News & Happenings

July 26, 2007

TSOs Saul Cosme (left) and Hector Lugo.

Last month, Transportation Security Officers Hector Lugo and Saul Cosme in San Juan, Puerto Rico helped save a young girl from a potential kidnapping after an Amber Alert was issued.

The alert included a description of the 6-year-old girl, the alleged female kidnapper and two other children reportedly with them. Forty-five minutes after receiving the alert, with only a brief verbal description of the suspect and the children, Lugo and Cosme spotted them at a checkpoint.

Lugo asked the woman for her boarding pass, while Cosme contacted TSA operations and the police. When law enforcement arrived, the woman was detained and police took custody of the children.

"This incident demonstrates how, as our organization matures and takes on a broader role in our nation's security, our officers are ready to answer the call," said Assistant Federal Security Director-Screening Jose A. Rivera, adding that security officers like Lugo and Cosme serve not only aviation and transportation but "the community as a whole."

In February, TSA joined the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in launching Amber Alerts at the nation's airports. Read more at tsa.gov.