Soccer 'bomb' false alarm

Thursday, January 22, 2009
By RONALD LEIR
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The mystery package was marked for delivery to Israel and it was beeping.

Workers carrying a large carton into a Bayonne warehouse became alarmed Tuesday morning when they heard a beeping sound coming from the box, Bayonne Police Chief Ralph Scianni said yesterday.

The report of a "suspicious package" brought police to G & B Packing on New Hook Road in the Constable Hook industrial section at about 10:15 a.m. to check out the situation.

FedEx had delivered the package to the warehouse and workers were placing it on the floor of the warehouse when the beeping began sounding from inside the box, Scianni said.

The area was cordoned off and employees evacuated from the warehouse and nearby offices at Gordon Terminal and International-Matex Tank Terminals (IMTT). The Jersey City bomb squad was called in to investigate.

At the same time, the U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration sent crews to the scene, along with the Bayonne Fire Department and McCabe's Ambulance Services of Bayonne, in case they were needed.

As it turned out, they weren't.

Scianni said the bomb squad deployed a "water cannon" to "shoot" open the package - then had to repeat the process to expose the box within the box.

When the box's contents were finally exposed, officials found 10 foam rubber soccer balls, each equipped with a toggle switch designed to produce the beeps, Scianni said.

The equipment was to be shipped to Israel for sight-impaired youths to play with, Scianni said. Jostling the box set off the beeper unit, he said.

Law enforcement and emergency personnel declared the situation under control by about 1 p.m., he said.

A man who identified himself as "one of the owners" yesterday at G & B said, "Everything's safe. All (our) employees came back to work later in the day."