Bomb Squad Clears Plane At MIA
MIAMI (CBS4) – A 'suspicious' incident turned out to be a false alarm at Miami International Airport after a Miami-Dade police department bomb squad cleared an American Airlines plane which flew in from Brazil.
MIA spokesman Greg Chin said when Flight 930 arrived around 8:30 a.m. from Sao Paolo, baggage handlers found a suspicious item in the cargo hold. A Miami-Dade police bomb squad was dispatched to the plane and discovered the 'suspicious item' was an empty holder for detonators used in construction or oil drilling.
"They found what appeared to be detonator devices, but it turned out to be empty containers that are made to hold detonators. There were no explosives inside them," said police spokeswoman Det. Edna Hernandez.
American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith called the detonator holder "nothing threatening." He said the item could be used in construction or oil drilling.
"It was doing routine process that they opened it up and said 'this doesn't look right.' This one was not packed like they usually are," Smith said, adding that the airlines would review how and why the item was shipped from Brazil.
All of the flight's 169 passengers had already deplaned when the containers were discovered rattling around inside a container during an inspection of the plane's cargo shipments.
Gate D-40 and two adjacent gates were closed temporarily, but the terminal remained opened.
