Suspicious Briefcase Turns Out to Be a Dud

Bomb experts determined Sunday afternoon that a leather briefcase left at a Chevron service station Saturday night near a tank filled with liquefied propane contained only paper.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies and attendants at the gas station, at the corner of Las Posas Road and Daily Drive, had feared that the briefcase contained an explosive device.

According to Sheriff’s Department reports, the incident began at 8:55 p.m. Saturday when a gas station attendant at Jim’s Chevron, 522 N. Las Posas Road, reported finding a suspicious-looking package.

Investigators arrived five minutes later, and were told by station attendants that a customer saw a man drive up near the tank, place a leather briefcase on the ground and drive away, authorities said.

The customer who witnessed the act left before police arrived.

Sheriff’s deputies called in the bomb squad, which arrived at 9:20 p.m. Authorities then evacuated an area within 100 yards of the tank and stopped all traffic on Las Posas Road and Daily Drive.

At 11:45 p.m., bomb squad technicians used a robot operated from a safe distance to place the briefcase into a special bomb trailer, where it was transported for analysis to a disposal bunker operated by the Sheriff’s Department.

The area was reopened to traffic shortly before midnight.

Descriptions of the person who left the briefcase, or the vehicle he was driving weren’t available. Sheriff’s Department officials said Sunday they don’t know the identity of the customer who witnessed the incident.