An explosive device was found in a passenger's carry-on luggage at Anchorage airport, police say.
According to Ted Stevens International airport police and fire Chief Jesse Davis, the Transportation Security Administration found what was thought to be a pipe bomb in the luggage of a man that was heading to North Slope on a flight for oil company workers on Sunday, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Even though the man was carrying a small explosive, Davis said it was not a danger as the device lacked a triggering mechanism. "It appeared, based on [the bomb-disposal team's] knowledge, that it wasn't an immediate danger to the traveling public," Davis told the paper.
The man who owned the device claimed that it was an "avalanche device" that is used to set off avalanches. The man was an oil worker.
When the device was found, the TSA cleared a 300-foot radius around the security checkpoint, airport operations officer Sharon Long told the News. After it was found that the bomb didn't have a triggering device, a bomb squad took it away. Security was closed for about an hour due to the incident and some flights were delayed.
The man was supposed to board a Shared Services Aviation flight. The joint service firms ConocoPhillips and BP flies employees and contractors to the North Slope, an oil-rich area in Alaska. The man is being investigated by the FBI. It appears that the man did not intend harm and only had the device for work.
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