Spokesman: Nothing suspicious in bag at Minneapolis airport that prompted partial evacuation
By Amy Forliti, APTuesday, January 5, 2010
Minn. airport official: Nothing suspicious in bag
MINNEAPOLIS — A spokesman for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport says nothing suspicious has been found in a bag that prompted a partial evacuation of the airport.
Spokesman Patrick Hogan of the Metropolitan Airports Commission says a bomb-sniffing dog found the bag on a luggage carousel during a routine inspection Tuesday. He says the bag was never on a plane and was only a placeholder typically left by airline employees to signal other employees that the airplane is empty.
Hogan says “we’ll probably never know” what caused the dog to react.
Portions of the baggage and ticketing areas were shut down as well as a road in front of the airport after the bag was found at 2 p.m. All of the gates and baggage claims reopened at 3:20 p.m.