All Clear After Miami Port Security Alert

Local and federal law enforcement officials are calling Sunday's security alert at the Port of Miami a false alarm.

"There is no nexus to terrorism," a U.S. law enforcement official told CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. "It is a local matter, if it's even that."

Three men were stopped at one of the port's checkpoint in a cargo truck, authorities said earlier. Security was increased at the busy trade hub while state and federal agencies tried to sort out the situation.

A spokeswoman for Miami-Dade police later said the men were questioned, and were found not to be a threat.

A port security officer became suspicious when the truck driver could not produce proper paperwork to enter the port about 8 a.m., Miami-Dade Police Detective Richard Williams said. The driver also indicated he was alone in the truck.

Officers searched the truck and found two men in the back of the cab trying to hide, Williams said.

"Due to a miscommunication between the gate security personnel and the truck driver, we believe there was a discrepancy in the number of people in the vehicle attempting to enter the Port of Miami. This, and the fact that one of the individuals did not have any form of ID raised our level of concern," Nancy Goldberg of the Miami-Dade police said.

"Maybe it could have been a language barrier, we don't know at this point," she said.

The three men — two Iraqis and one Lebanese national who are legal permanent U.S. residents — remained in police custody for questioning,
Goldberg said. They had not been arrested or charged by Sunday afternoon.

The men do not appear on any terrorist watch list, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez.

A preliminary check of the truck showed its contents did not match the manifest, Gonzalez said early in the day.

But, authorities said at an later news conference that an examination of the truck showed that it was carrying electrical automotive parts, in accordance with a manifest.

The Miami-Dade bomb squad moved the truck away from public areas of the port and X-rayed it.

More than 20 pallets containing spools of wire and other automotive parts taken from the truck were still being scanned, but no radioactive material had been found, said Jose Ramirez, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were called to the scene along with federal and local law enforcement "in an abundance of caution," Goldberg said.

"Of course we're on a heightened sense of security out here," Williams said.

Passengers in the normally busy cruise ship area of the port were unaware of the official bustle in the cargo area. When told of the situation, some said they thought it probably made boarding lines longer. But officials said Sunday's long lines were normal.

The Port of Miami is among the United States' busiest. More than 3.6 million cruise ship passengers traveled through in 2005. It services more than 30 ocean carriers, which delivered more than 1 million cargo containers in 2005.