The discovery of what officials believed to be a bomb inside a suitcase headed for a Colombian jetliner turned out to be a video game bought as a Christmas gift.
Only after the suitcase was blown up by a police bomb squad did experts determine that the suspected explosive device was a video game. And the owner is angry.Carlos Arias said the game was a Christmas gift for his nephews in Bogota. He said his niece was taking the suitcase that also contained Christmas cards, other gifts and money, on a Christmas trip to Colombia.
"I asked why they had to blow it up," Arias said. "They didn't have to. The name, address and phone for my niece were on the suitcase. They could have just called and asked someone what was inside. We would have opened it up."
But Lt. Daniel Lang, the bomb squad's commander, said there was "nothing to snicker about" in the incident. "You never know what you're going to find," Lang said. "So on every call, we always assume it's a dangerous device."
The U.S. Customs Service at Los Angeles International Airport detected what appeared to be sticks of dynamite, wiring and a clock inside a large, heavy suitcase destined for an Avianca Airlines jetliner headed for Colombia.
Experts then examined the detonated contents and found the device to be a Nintendo game.
Customs officials will reimburse the owners of the exploded suitcase, police said.
Concern about possible bombings of Colombian airliners has risen because drug traffickers are waging a campaign of bombings and assassinations in South America.
All 107 people aboard an Avianca jet were killed earlier this week when it exploded near the Colombian capital Bogota. Initial reports, later dismissed by investigators, placed blame for the crash on terrorists.