NARITA, Japan, Oct. 7 Kyodo

An American man has been arrested at Narita International Airport for carrying a loaded handgun after evading tight security at a U.S. airport, Narita airport authorities said Wednesday.

The 51-year-old man was arrested by Chiba police at Narita on Sept. 30 on charges of violating the gun control law after airport officials found the automatic gun in his bag while he was transferring to a flight for Bangkok, they said.

He arrived on an American Airlines flight from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, where he apparently passed though tight security checks. Narita airport officials said he is a photographer but his name has been withheld.

The Narita airport authorities quoted him as saying that he placed the gun, used for competition, in the bag several years ago and mistakenly brought it with him on his travels to Asia with his family and an acquaintance.

The incident poses a question over the precision of security checks at U.S. airports, which have been tightened significantly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States. The latest incident is a rare case in which a gun has been brought onto a plane departing from the United States.