Explosives Found at Philadelphia Bus Station

Officials at a Greyhound bus station found powerful military explosives and 1,000 feet of detonation cord in a suitcase here Friday, but police said there was no immediate indication that the cache was connected to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Police officials said there were five ounces of C4 explosive, about the size of a bar of soap, inside the suitcase. But there was no threat of explosion because no detonation cap was attached to the plastic explosive, they said.

C4 explosives were used in the attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole at Yemen’s Aden port last year, which the United States blames on Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist network. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed in the attack.

But Linda Veesey, an FBI spokeswoman in Philadelphia, said authorities “have no reason to believe it’s terrorist-connected.” She said an investigation was underway to determine why the paraphernalia was in a locker at the station.

Police said the suitcase had been checked in a locker on Sept. 29. Luggage claim workers opened the suitcase Friday after the time limit for checked luggage in the locker had expired and found the putty-like explosive and the blasting cord inside the bag.

“My sense is that whoever put it there . . . meant to just store it for a short period of time and pick it up, and for some reason never showed up or showed up too late,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney told CNN.

The bus terminal was evacuated and bomb squad officers removed the suitcase without incident or injury.

“If it had gone off, it would have blown up the whole terminal,” said Sgt. Roland Lee, a Philadelphia police spokesman. “It was very disturbing because that location is heavily traveled.”

Philadelphia police were working with the FBI and other federal agencies in the investigation. Police also were checking fingerprints and surveillance tapes of the terminal for any clues about who checked the suitcase.

“We think we have some good forensic evidence, and there was some videotape which was confiscated,” Timoney said. “It’s of poor quality but we’re trying to enhance it right now.”

Security has been heightened at transport facilities nationwide since the terrorist attacks.