Suspected pipe bomb found at MacArthur
Would-be passenger detained at security checkpoint, airport officials say
BY JOHN VALENTI | [email protected]
9:17 AM EDT, October 16, 2008
A would-be passenger was in police custody Thursday morning after Long Island-MacArthur Airport security agents discovered a suspected pipe bomb in his baggage, airport officials said.
Part of the Southwest Airlines terminal was evacuated after the "fuse device" was discovered during a hand check of baggage, Airport Deputy Commissioner Eric Hofmeister said. Hofmeister said the would-be passenger termed the device "fireworks" but that "it's believed it may be a pipe bomb."
The man was to board a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Las Vegas, Hofmeister said, when the device was discovered by Transportation Security Administration agents at 7:38 a.m. Thursday. The TSA agents immediately notified airport police, Hofmeister said, and Gates 5-8 at the Southwest Terminal were immediately evacuated.
Officials also notified Suffolk County police, who sent an Emergency Services Unity Bomb Squad to the scene, Hofmeister said. Airport officials also restricted access to Gates 1-2 on the west end of the terminal and to the original terminal gates. Hofmeister said bomb squad personnel "removed the suspicious package" from the airport at 8:38 a.m. and that TSA agents and other airport personnel were allowed back into the building after 8:40 a.m.
It is unclear when the terminal will reopen, but Hofmeister believed it would be before 9:30 a.m.
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