Passengers apparently asked a man if he knew he had a monkey on him, according to a BBC report.

A man has been questioned by police at LaGuardia airport in New York after smuggling a monkey onto a flight from Florida by hiding it under his hat.

Passengers spotted the animal when it climbed out and perched on the man’s ponytail, Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Alison Russell told reporters.

How will the TSA react? I can’t wait for new signs to be put up in airports…”Monkeys Not Allowed” or “Keep an Eye out for Suspicious Monkeys” or “Report All Monkeys Immediately”. That might be overly optimistic. Maybe instead someone will start selling monkey-detectors and everyone will have to remove their hat and put it into an automated monkey scanner. Apes might still get through, though.

Just goes to show how detection systems fail and require trained human observers to supplement. A network of neighbors who report suspicious activity are most effective if they are treated as a viable system and backed by a reasonable model of justice.