Authorities shutdown a runaway at Burbank Airport and suspended rail service for several hours this morning while they examined a big-rig truck after an anoymous caller told them that a truck filled with explosives was headed to Los Angeles.
But the truck actually contained pyrotechnics used in movies, and investigators now believe the call was tied to either a labor dispute or was a prank.
Los Angeles police and federal authorities spent much of the night in a frantic search for what the caller described as an explosives-filled truck. The call came into the California Highway Patrol at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The truck was found near the airport around 3:30 a.m. this morning, not far from an airplane fuel storage facility.
Police sealed off a one-square-mile area, and bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in. When authorities opened the truck, they found various props used to simulate gunshots in movies and television programs.
“This is a stupid prank that expended untold resources and put everyone in jeopardy,” said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Art Miller.
Source: AP