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Minnesota air passenger: Water filtration pipes in bag

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Apr 27, 2012 at 4:23 pm

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officials say a suspicious bag that prompted a brief evacuation of a Minneapolis airport terminal had two capped PVC pipes and several wires inside that the owner says were for water filtration.

The terminal was cleared of several hundred people after screeners spotted the items at about 5:30 a.m. Friday.
Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan says the device wasn't explosive and officers had no reason to doubt the man's story that it was for water filtration. He was released and won't be criminally charged.

But Hogan says the Transportation Security Administration could consider civil charges because of the disruption.
Hogan says the man told police he had "a similar incident" at an airport in Long Beach, Calif., in 2009.