Police: Small explosive found in Anchorage airport luggage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Anchorage airport police say a device they call a pipe bomb has been found in a passenger’s carry-on luggage.

Airport police and fire Chief Jesse Davis tells the Anchorage Daily News that TSA agents found the small explosive in the luggage of a man headed for a North Slope flight for oil company workers at 1:55 p.m. Sunday.

Davis says it lacked a triggering mechanism, and no one was in danger.

Davis says the man claimed it was an “avalanche device.” He says the FBI was interviewing the man, whose name hasn’t been released.

Airport operations officer Sharon Long says agents cleared a 300-foot radius around the security checkpoint when they found the explosive.

Davis says the citywide Explosive Ordinance Disposal team took away the device.

Long says security was closed for about an hour.

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