The unusual story of Smells, the kitten found inside a suitcase at New York airport

It must have seemed like the perfect plan for Smells, an American cat who slipped into someone’s carry-on bag and was able to hide out over the Thanksgiving holiday.

But he failed to pass security at the New York airport.

Security officers at New York’s JFK airport were in for a big surprise on Tuesday when, when they ran a travel suitcase through the X-ray machine, they found an image of a cat next to the toiletries.

How the cat was found in a suitcase at the New York airport

The first signal from the security officers was when they inspected the suitcase and they found a strand of hair sticking out of a slightly open zipper.

“This CAT had our baggage handlers @JFKairport saying ‘meow!’” a TSA spokesperson said on Twitter, among many other cat puns

“The passenger apparently had no idea that the cat, which belongs to someone else, had been placed in the suitcase.”added TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.

Farbstein, in addition to confirming that the passenger denied that the cat was his, specified that the animal belongs to another person in his home.

Meanwhile, the TSA posted a tweet that read, “We let the cat out of the suitcase in historic discovery:”Come on, meow!’ Felines like you, if you have any questions about travel, contact our friends @AskTSA. They are available every day from 8:00 to 18:00 ET.”

One of the images that attracted the most attention was the one published by the TSA, where you can see the cat inside the suitcase when it went through the x-ray machine.

What happened to the owner of Smells, the cat who traveled in the suitcase

Farbestein confirmed that the cat did not belong to the passenger and that he was removed from the suitcase to return home safely.

Additionally, a woman identified as Alix stated that she is the owner of Smells, the mischievous cat found at the airport.

Alix commented that her pet may have gotten into her friend’s suitcase while she was at work and she hadn’t noticed his absence until she received a call from an airport official.

The pet’s owner said an officer called her to ask if she would like to press charges against her guest, a 37-year-old man about what happened with Smells also asked him if there was any particular reason he was trying to steal his cat and go to Florida.

Nonetheless, The woman assured that it was an accident as cats like to search and get into boxes and suitcases. That would have been the reason she got into the luggage.

Once the whereabouts of her pet was discovered, the woman’s boyfriend went to collect it to the cat who was completely calm after a complicated journey, but with a happy ending.