LONG BEACH, Calif. – A suspicious item in luggage prompted an evacuation of hundreds of people from the Long Beach Airport terminal Thursday before the object was found to be an electronic game, authorities said.
Transportation Security Administration screeners spotted the suspicious item in a checked bag around 9:30 a.m., said Jennifer Peppin, a spokeswoman for the federal agency.
"It is basically a handheld game board that a passenger packed," she told the Fox News Channel.
"It certainly was nothing but it certainly looked like something. It had all the wires and components that you would see in an explosive device," Peppin said.
The adult passenger was being interviewed, she said.
Firefighters, police and a Los Angeles County sheriff's bomb squad were called to the airport, about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
The airport terminal was evacuated for about 90 minutes and five arriving aircraft were held on the tarmac until the all-clear was given.
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