MIA Terminal Shutdown After Bomb Scare, Man Arrested
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A bomb scare at Miami International Airport forced authorities to shut down a terminal for more than three hours impacting a few hundred passengers Wednesday morning,
Terminal J was later reopened.
Miami-Dade Police said 60-year old Manuel Alberto Alvarado was taken into custody and charged in this case.
Alvarado was booked to fly from Miami to Caracas, Venezuela on Avianca Airlines.
Airport officials said he made a comment about having explosives in his luggage during check-in for his flight. They also said he later stated that he was joking about having explosives.
Police said no explosives were found inside his bag.
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Miami-Dade Police bomb squad was called in as a precaution and removed the suspicious bag.
Traveler Miguel Morta was headed to Sao Paolo, Brazil.
"The information we received was that a passenger on Avianca, as he went through, made threats that he had an explosive in his suitcase. It was about 7:20 a.m. this morning so then they stopped everything," said Morta.
The bomb squad had to move carefully as evacuated passengers like Michael Dunn waited for answers.
"Just as we got here, they had put up a yellow line and they said we couldn't go past it. I was just waiting. That's all you can do," said Dunn.
While no explosives, were found police said it is a very serious case. Alvarado has been charged with criminal mischief and possessing a hoax bomb.
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