Police find airport 'bomb' to be board game
Police called out to a Swedish regional airport after a suspicious-looking parcel had been found in a garbage bin were surprised to find the suspected explosive device was a board game.
The parcel, stuffed into a rubbish bin in the toilets of the departures hall at Midlanda airport in Sundsvall, northern Sweden, was discovered by a cleaner on Sunday, according to local paper Sundsvalls tidning.
The terminal remained open over night, but the toilet where the object had been discovered was cordoned off pending the investigation by police explosive experts.
When officers arrived at the airport around 1pm on Monday, it took them half an hour and an x-ray machine to work out that the suspicious-looking parcel was no bomb, but a discarded board game called “Sundsvallsspelet”, dumped in the trash.
Police spokeswoman Annica Odelind is not that happy about someone throwing the game in the garbage:
“As a traveller you are responsible for what you leave behind at an airport, as security has been heightened for a few years,” she told the paper.
The airport authorities never considered the parcel to be a major threat, but took the decision to have it checked out by experts anyway, to be on the safe side.
“In this kind of situation you have a choice; either you decide it is nothing or that it could be a problem. To be able to brush it aside you need to be pretty certain otherwise you will go with the option of having it checked out just to be on the safe side,” said police officer Mats Rasmussen of the local police to the paper.
According to the officers, the parcel had been in the bin for a few days when it was discovered.
The Local/rm
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The parcel, stuffed into a rubbish bin in the toilets of the departures hall at Midlanda airport in Sundsvall, northern Sweden, was discovered by a cleaner on Sunday, according to local paper Sundsvalls tidning.
The terminal remained open over night, but the toilet where the object had been discovered was cordoned off pending the investigation by police explosive experts.
When officers arrived at the airport around 1pm on Monday, it took them half an hour and an x-ray machine to work out that the suspicious-looking parcel was no bomb, but a discarded board game called “Sundsvallsspelet”, dumped in the trash.
Police spokeswoman Annica Odelind is not that happy about someone throwing the game in the garbage:
“As a traveller you are responsible for what you leave behind at an airport, as security has been heightened for a few years,” she told the paper.
The airport authorities never considered the parcel to be a major threat, but took the decision to have it checked out by experts anyway, to be on the safe side.
“In this kind of situation you have a choice; either you decide it is nothing or that it could be a problem. To be able to brush it aside you need to be pretty certain otherwise you will go with the option of having it checked out just to be on the safe side,” said police officer Mats Rasmussen of the local police to the paper.
According to the officers, the parcel had been in the bin for a few days when it was discovered.
The Local/rm
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