Authorities take no chances, respond in force, shut down part of Port temporarily, sound all clear by 7:30 p.m.
(June 28, 2002, posted at 7:45 p.m.) -- Taking no chances, public safety officials converged in force on the Port of LB today, and shut down part of the Port temporarily, after U.S. Customs found a 20-30 gallon drum with wires exposed inside a Toyota Land Cruiser, inside a Sealand container on a dock at the Port of LB to be loaded on a ship bound for Russia.
That was at roughly 4:30 p.m.
By 7:30 p.m, the item was determined to be an empty drum with wires attached and a light to give the impression of security device for the vehicle or vehicles nearby (apparently like a car alarm, details sketchy as we post).
The L.A. County bomb squad was on scene and LBPD assisted U.S. Customs and Coast Guard. An area about a mile back was evacuated as a precaution.
