Military explosives found in garage locker
A bus terminal in Philadelphia was evacuated for several hours after a station employee found an unclaimed suitcase containing a military-grade plastic explosive and 1,000ft of blasting cord.
No detonation devices were found in the bag and there was little danger of the materials exploding accidentally, said Lt Tom Fitzpatrick of the city’s bomb squad.
But the third of a pound (0.15 kilogrammes) of C-4 explosives and 7lb (3 kilogrammes) of blasting cord would have had enough power to level the station, he said.
‘‘That’s a lot of punch,’’ Fitzpatrick said. ‘‘We would have been looking for a new bus terminal.’’
Authorities said they do not yet know where the C-4 came from and why it was placed in the terminal.
A terminal employee who sorts through unclaimed luggage to give clothing to homeless organisations discovered the putty-like material, authorities said. The explosives in the suitcase were wrapped in plastic rubbish bags.
Bomb squad officers and investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were sent to the Greyhound terminal late in the morning. The material was neutralized and removed from the station, which was reopened after about four hours.
C-4 was developed for the US military in the Vietnam era. It was used in the USS Cole bombing, which killed 17 US sailors last year in an attack blamed on operatives of terror suspect Osama bin Laden.
The blasting cord is also a military explosive. Fitzpatrick said the cord found was potentially more dangerous than the amount of C-4.
The bag had been placed in a public locker at 2.43am on Sept 29, Police Commissioner John Timoney said. A station employee removed it from the locker on October 3 and put in a storage closet, and the bag was not opened until Friday, police said.
