From the Bellingham Herald:
Bellingham airport evacuated after suspicious suitcase found
A suspicious suitcase left unattended on a sidewalk outside Bellingham International Airport led to a brief evacuation Sunday, Oct. 9 after screeners got a “positive swab for explosives.”
Bellingham Police Lt. Bob Vander Yacht said the swabs are preliminary swabs that have a reaction to an array of chemicals. If any one of those chemicals were present, then a reaction would have occurred.
Police sent a bomb squad to investigate the medium-sized black suitcase that was found in the passenger pick-up area at about 3:30 p.m. About 300 passengers in the airport were evacuated and a bomb robot was used to x-ray the suitcase. It was empty.
The airport resumed normal operations after about two hours. Passengers were allowed back into the pre-screening and check-in areas, though several flights were delayed.
That the suitcase was empty raises a big red flag for me. Was someone probing the airport in preparation for an attack? They would have left the suitcase empty so as to minimize any incriminating evidence - DNA from skin cells, etc... Crap like this is a little too close to home.
Leave a comment