Owens

Defendant was charged with possession for sale of a controlled substance, in violation of section 11378 of the Health and Safety Code. After his motion to suppress, made under sec *146 tion 1538.5 of the Penal Code, was denied he pled guilty and was granted probation. He has appealed.

The sole issue in the case at bench is the validity of an “airport search” of defendant’s checked luggage. We conclude that the search was constitutionally valid.

At about 7 p.m., defendant purchased a ticket for a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas-Fort Worth and checked luggage to accompany him on that flight. Suspicious that he might be a potential hijacker, an airline employee caused the checked baggage to be X-rayed. The X-ray disclosed suspicious objects. The airline employees opened the bag and discovered several bottles of pills which ultimately were determined to contain the controlled substance herein involved.

The contentions here made are: (1) That the inspection and search were mandated by federal regulations, so that the airline employees were acting as government agents subject to the Fourth Amendment; and (2) that a warrantless search of the luggage required a warrant.

We…