SOURCE: Associated Press
On Thursday, a bomb scare was reported to security officials at Peoria International Airport in Peoria, Illinois. The Federal Bureau of Investigation rushed to the scene along with a regional police tactical bomb squad team. They were summoned by the TSA after an agent discovered what appeared to be a bomb or some manner of explosive in a piece of checked luggage.
The discovery and its aftermath forced the complete shutdown of the international airport for three hours. What was found in the luggage was a mason jar filled with liquid along with a couple of red sticks that had the word “dynamite” written on them as well as an aerosol can. Upon further inspection, however, the devices were determined to be training aids for abortion clinic employees.
SOURCE: Peoria Count Sheriff’s Department
The Peoria County Sheriff’s Department stated that these things were used to train abortion clinic employees with regard to recognizing packages that may look suspicious. In fact, the sheriff’s department stated, the sticks of “dynamite” were actually dog chew toys. The female passenger who had these materials in her baggage was taken into custody by the TSA and questioned. The woman, it turns out, works for the National Abortion Federation. The woman had informed the police that she had traveled with the training items in the past and that she had left a handwritten note in the luggage stating that they were training materials.
The National Abortion Federation said in a statement that the materials had never caused a problem but that the organization would review is procedures for transporting the training materials in the future. Three hours later, the airport reopened.
The TSA thought it had been a good training exercise for everyone involved because they commented that everyone took the threat as an actual bomb threat. The TSA stated that everyone responded according to training and that the incident went smoothly.