"Suspect Device Found Near NY Airport"

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Suspect Device Found Near Airport 
By T.J. Pignataro
The Buffalo (NY) News


A can that looked suspiciously like a bomb, discovered Wednesday evening on
property near Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga, was
safely retrieved and will be examined by an FBI laboratory, according to
airport officials.

At about 6:30 p.m., a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority employee
mowing grass off Roxborough Avenue saw a suspicious can leaning against a
tree, according to C. Douglas Hartmayer, NFTA spokesman.

"Based on his training. . . . he contacted NFTA police," Hartmayer said.

An NFTA police bomb-sniffing dog "had a slight reaction to the device,"
Hartmayer said, leading authorities to summon the Weapons and Ordnance Unit
of the Erie County Sheriff's Office.

Hartmayer said the unit sent a robot to investigate the device -- that
appeared to be a gun-metal gray can, slightly larger than a soup can, with
protruding yellow wires. It also had what appeared to be a timer as well as
a power source.

Sheriff's officials were able to pick up the suspicious item and place it
into an explosive-proof container, which was sealed and removed to a safe
location by federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and
the FBI.

"It was treated very seriously," Hartmayer said.

FBI laboratory technicians will study the device and attempt to obtain the
fingerprints of its maker, Hartmayer said.

Hartmayer said airport authorities had received no threats of an explosive
device.

He credited the employee mowing the lawn for his astute observation and
subsequent following of procedure that led to the seizure of the device
without incident.

The device was discovered in a grassy area off Roxborough near Genesee
Street -- not within the gates of the airport itself. Navigation lights
leading planes to the airport are in the vicinity, Hartmayer said.

No flights were affected, and no evacuations were necessary, Hartmayer said.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Cheektowaga police assisted the
investigation.

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