A man flying to Boston from Kansai, Japan, via Inchon, Korea, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport wearing body armor, flame retardant leggings and knee pads under a trench coat.

When the man’s stored luggage was searched, it turned up an array of weapons, including a smoke grenade, a collapsible baton, several knives, a hatchet and three leather-coated black-jack billy clubs. The luggage also contained packed body bags, a Tyvek biohazard suit, masks, duct tape, handcuffs, leg irons, oven mitts, cooking tongs and a full-face respirator.  

Authorities said the smoke grenade was capable of causing a fire and filling an airplane with smoke.

Yongda Huang Harris, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chinese descent, was arrested Friday and initially charged with transporting hazardous materials on an airplane. Harris reportedly lived and worked in Japan recently. He appeared in court briefly on Tuesday and remains in federal custody. He is scheduled to be back in court on Friday.

Officials did not immediately know how Harris made it through Japanese security to board the plane.

–Ken Broder   

To Learn More:

Man Wearing Body Armor Busted With Luggage Full of Weapons at LAX (by Jack Date, ABC News)

Questions Over Man Arrested at LAX with Bulletproof Vest, Body Bags (by Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times)

Deposition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent