By Alan Diaz
Associated Press
MIAMI — A senior law enforcement official says investigators have released a scientist detained at Miami International Airport after screeners spotted a metal canister in his luggage that looked like a pipe bomb, prompting an evacuation.
The official told The Associated Press on Friday that no charges were filed against the 70-year-old man and he was allowed to continue his trip. He says the man was cooperative. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.
Neither the professor’s name nor his itinerary has been released.
A police bomb squad spent hours scouring the airport and passengers had to be evacuated from the complex Thursday night and airport roadways were closed down, police and airport officials said, describing the shutdown of the four concourses as a public safety precaution.
The airport fully reopened just after 4 a.m. Friday before the first scheduled morning departures, which signaled the start of the peak Labor Day weekend.
“Everything’s back to normal,” airport spokesman Greg Chin told The Associated Press soon after the closed concourses reopened.
He said the end of the evacuation order largely coincided with the nighttime drop-off in flights. Passengers, workers and others were allowed back in just as the airport was expecting the first of 1,500 passengers on flights between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. alone _ and more thereafter.
The Transportation Security Administration declined to identify the passenger, stating in a terse statement that the screener spotted something suspicious in a checked back at about 9 p.m. Thursday. “The passenger was located and is now in law enforcement custody,” TSA’s statement said.
The statement also did not say what the suspicious item was but said a police bomb squad and other law enforcement agents deployed to the airport soon after.
The federal agency responsible for air travel security said four of the six concourses in the 2-mile long complex _ Terminals E, F, G, and H _ had been evacuated beginning late Thursday.
Miami-Dade Police said a bomb squad spent hours at the airport with fire officials and the others. Fire trucks and police vehicles stood by and a hazardous material team was spotted at the scene.
Police spokesman Alvaro Zableta had urged those with scheduled departures Friday to check with local air carriers.
Airport spokesman Greg Chin said between 100 and 200 passengers were evacuated initially.
“I’m still not sure how many flights came in during this time, but any that did were relocated to the eastern or western ends of the airport,” Chin said, adding parts of Concourses D and J remained open to flights while the evacuation order was in effect for remaining areas.