German airline Lufthansa said on Friday it was searching for Russian filmmaker Pavel Telankin’s Oscar statuette, following reports that US airport security had prevented him from carrying it on a flight from New York.

Talankin, who won an Academy Award for his documentary Mr Nobody Against PutinThe statue was prevented from being transported on a flight at JFK Airport on Wednesday, film industry news site Deadline reports.

US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials allegedly told them that it could be used as a weapon, forcing them to test it by placing it in a cardboard box, the report said.

When he landed in Germany the golden statue was missing.

“We deeply regret this situation,” Lufthansa said in a statement. “Our team is handling this matter with the utmost care and urgency, and we are conducting an extensive internal search to ensure that Oscar is found and returned as soon as possible.”

Talankin, 35, a small-town Russian school videographer, made headlines when he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in March with American filmmaker David Borenstein.

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Made from footage smuggled out of Russia by Talankin, Mr Nobody Against Putin Pro-war patriotic lessons were introduced in Russian schools under President Vladimir Putin amid Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.

Talankin told Deadline he has flown with the statue at least a dozen times without any problems.

“It’s absolutely baffling how they consider the Oscar a weapon,” he said after landing in Frankfurt on Thursday morning, adding that on previous flights he had “flown with it in the cabin, and never had any kind of problem.”

According to Deadline, a Lufthansa agent had offered to escort Tolkin to the gate and hold the statue during the flight, but the plan was vetoed by a TSA official.