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.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.fbi.gov