Detroit Airport Evacuated After Suspicious Device Is Found, Now Reopened

Romulus, MI – Detroit Airport was evacuated early Tuesday after authorities found a “suspicious object” at a security checkpoint.

Officials evacuated the smaller of two terminals at Detroit Metropolitan Airport for around two hours while a bomb squad responded, and one person was detained over the incident. The terminal has now reopened for business as usual.

In a statement released after Detroit Airport evacuated, the airport revealed the suspect object was found at a Transportation Security Administration screening checkpoint at 5.50am at the North Terminal in Romulus. The check-in lobby was shut down, said the statement.

The bomb squad reportedly left the terminal with the suspicious item, which had been in an X-ray machine, and travelers were allowed back into the terminal at around 8.20am. The TSA described the evacuation as a “precautionary measure.”

In an email to The Associated Press, Detroit Airport spokesman Scott Wintner said an individual associated with the object was detained. Wintner said he could not provide details.

More than 30 million passengers pass through Detroit Metropolitan Airport each year, making it one of the busiest airports in the United States and among the world’s largest air transportation hubs.

Detroit Metropolitan is the latest in a line of US airports to be evacuated in recent months. Last August, a bomb threat had officials clearing San Antonio Airport, while the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska was evacuated in October 2012 over a poorly judged bomb joke.

No word yet on whether the suspicious object at Detroit was gourmet peanut butter.