JFK Airport Evacuation: Suspicious Package Found in the Bag Room of El Al Airlines

By Jared Feldschreiber | Apr 22, 2013 01:55 PM EDT

Officials said Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International was briefly evacuated on Sunday afternoon because of a suspicious package discovered in the bag room from El Al Airlines, NBC New York reported. Authorities said the unattended package turned out to be a tube of toothpaste wrapped in duct tape with some kind of wires, news reports said. This prompted a brief evacuation. The "suspicious package" and subsequent bomb scare was soon investigated by an NYPD bomb squad search, but was soon deemed safe. 

Last week, New York's LaGuardia Airport was partially evacuated following a report of suspicious wiring. A U.S. Airways flight going into Boston's Logan airport from Philadelphia was pulled off the runway also on Tuesday and its luggage was searched after security found out a suitcase had not been checked before being placed on. The luggage was laid out on the runway and searched by security personnel, until authorities concluded that the incident was not related to Monday's bomb explosions, The Daily Mail reported.

Wires protruding from a fluorescent light fixture led someone to call authorities last Tuesday morning. Also onTuesday, American Airlines grounded its flight temporarily after experiencing nationwide outages in its reservation system. 

New York City, as well as all big cities throughout America remains on heightened security following last Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured over 180.

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