# Bomb experts investigate Halloween prop



## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

* Bomb experts investigate Halloween prop*
43 minutes ago

A police bomb squad raced across Norway by helicopter Thursday to investigate a mysterious, wired package that turned out to be a discarded Halloween prop left behind by a young man who had dressed up as a suicide bomber.

The package, with wires sticking out of it, was found at about 9:00 a.m. on a car parked outside the Alrek student dormitory in Bergen, Norway's second largest city, said Asbjoern Andersen of the Bergen police.

The car's owner had no idea what the package was, so police evacuated the dormitory and the surrounding area. Then they summoned bomb experts from Oslo, who flew 185 miles by helicopter to assess the threat.

"We really had no choice," Andersen said about bringing in experts from the capital. "We don't have the expertise (on bombs) because that is concentrated in Oslo."

The fake bomb made national news.

The young man who made the fake device for a Halloween party and later left it behind heard one of the newscasts and phoned the police.

"He did not intend for it to be a bomb threat," said Andersen. "He dressed up as a suicide bomber for Halloween, and called us immediately when he realized the 'device' was his."

The call came more than four hours after the area was evacuated.

Andersen said the prankster, whose name was withheld, had been questioned by police, but it was too early to say what action, if any, might be taken against him.


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