Posted on 01/31/2007 12:04:30 PM PST by Howlin
BOSTON -- Four "hoax devices" were found at several Boston locations Wednesday, hours after officials detonated a suspicious package on an elevated structure above the Sullivan Square Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station.
The additional packages were found at the Boston University Bridge, the Longfellow Bridge and near the intersection of Stuart and Columbus streets. A device described by officials as a pipe bomb was found in the basement of the Tufts New England Medical Center at 185 Harrison Ave.
A spokesman for the Boston Police Department said that all of the packages appeared to be similar.
"Our device was not an active device. We are still treating the area as a crime scene. There were no injuries. Everyone was evacuated properly, and everyone now back to their locations," Tufts New England Medical Center's Brooke Hynes said.
Mayor Tom Menino said that all of the packages found posed no danger, but the incidents remained under investigation. Storrow Drive eastbound was shut down for a brief time, and the MBTA suspended service on the Red Line and planned to bus afternoon commuters between Kendall and Park Street stations.
Earlier Wednesday, the state police bomb squad was called and detonated the package in Sullivan Square just before 10 a.m. Officials said it contained an electronic circuit board with some components that were "consistent with an improvised explosive device," but they said it had no explosives. They determined that the device was not dangerous, but destroyed it as a precaution.
"We determined that this device, in particular, was not explosive," said MBTA Lt. Sal Venturelli.
He said MBTA police were told about the package by a transit passenger who spotted it on a column that supports Interstate 93. The parcel was located on an elevated structure above the bus way and below I-93 in the Charlestown section of Boston at about 8 a.m.
"This is a perfect example of our passengers taking part in Homeland Security," Venturelli said.
An investigation will be conducted into how the package got there and when, he said.
Train service on the Orange Line between Sullivan Square and Wellington stations was suspended in both directions. No injuries were reported.
The northbound side of I-93 was closed, causing significant traffic backups. Motorists were not allowed to access the highway near Sullivan Square coming up from the south.
It's going to be hard to dismiss this many.
Unfortunately, one of these times it's going to be the real deal and not just a dry run. :(
some a-hole of an "art student" in NYC did something like this in Manhattan subway stations sometime after 9/11. They caught the guy and should have treated him very very harshly for all the thousands of people inconvenienced and terrorized. Doubt they did any more than give him a light slap on the wrist.
Coincidence? I dunno....
I agree.
Great, and I've got to fly out of Logan on Friday.
Just my damned luck.
Heh!
Please, I'm eating some lunch!
Decoys?
Don't you think this many packages will be hard for them to give the standard "move along, nothing here" admonitions?
Agreed. I think it may be a test for later. Or, might not be a hoax at all.
McCain campaign try to take out Mitt Romney?
I know, lame attempt at humor
I am sure they are thinking that.
And near the hospital where you would take any injuries.
It seems like it's always Boston, doesn't it?
Shep says that the BPD says they are "hooks devices."
What is that?
How can this happen in Boston where there are so many America hating liberals? Kerry is still on his America bad mouthing tour, too.
I mean the bomb squad will do the work for the terrorists....
Ive been looking for "Socks"...Al has done a Sandy Berger with that cat
Boston Harbor closed to recreational boats.
Beacon Hill, Back Bay, etc., are the places they are concentrating on.
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