Sat, Sep 04, 2010
Metal Canister In His Luggage Prompted An Evacuation, No
Explosives Found
A 70-year-old American citizen was been detained at Miami
International Airport Thursday night after TSA screeners noticed a
metal canister in his luggage. The incident prompted an overnight
evacuation of four of the airport's six concourses, which re-opened
just after 0400 Friday before the first flights were scheduled to
depart.
The scare also caused airport and Miami-Dade police to close
down roads around the airport. Law enforcement officials said the
unnamed unidentified passenger was detained after a screener saw
the suspicious item they said "looked like a pipe bomb" in a
checked bag at about 2100 Thursday. While no explosives were found,
the man was held while the item and his luggage were sent to a lab
to be checked for "contaminants," according to DHS spokesman
Kicholas Kimball.
USA Today reports that FBI spokesman Michael Leverock
said at a news conference in Miami that the detainee was "being
very cooperative. He's not under arrest at this time." The
scientist, a professor at Ross University in the Caribbean, had
been on a teaching assignment in Saudi Arabia according to the
London Telegraph. He had flown into Miami late
Thursday.
The evacuation extended to the Miami International Airport
Hotel, which is near the main terminal. The airport resumed normal
operations early Friday morning. The Telegraph reports
that the professor told police that the canister was used in
medical testing, and it was determined through further examination
that it was used to carry dead bacteria. He was released without
being charged.
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