Long Beach Airport reopens after evacuation
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LONG BEACH — Long Beach Airport was evacuated this morning after security screeners found a “suspicious” device in a piece of luggage that turned out to be a prototype for a new toy, law enforcement officials said.
Passengers were being allowed back into the terminal by 11:30 a.m. after a two-hour evacuation and authorities were preparing to reschedule departing flights that had been grounded, said airport spokeswoman Sharon Diggs-Jackson. Incoming flights had either been re-rerouted or passengers were kept on the planes that had landed, she said.
The evacuation was ordered about 9:30 a.m. after airport security guards found a suspicious piece of luggage, she said. But the device was a prototype for a new toy being transported to the Northeast by a contractor working for toymaker Mattel, law enforcement officials said.
Hundreds of people were milling about the parking lot of the airport as officials investigated.
The FBI and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department were responding, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
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