A 71-year-old man who was headed to Los Angeles was detained after parts of a potential explosive device were found in his carry-on luggage at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport, police said.
The man is still being questioned by investigators and will likely face charges today or tomorrow in relation to the incident, police spokesman Jean-Pierre Brabant said today. His name has not been released because no charges have been filed yet.
Police said they searched the suspect's apartment and car in a residential area near the airport yesterday evening. They seized some documents but Ian Lafreniere, another police spokesman, said they have found "nothing obvious" so far.
The city's SWAT team was called in and authorities set up a security perimeter spanning several city blocks during the search. About 20 residents were temporarily evacuated from their homes.
The package was spotted at a security checkpoint in the US departures area early yesterday morning. The items in the package were not explosives.
"It was different parts of a potential device. To make that a little clearer, let's say you are trying to do a bomb inside the luggage, but one thing was missing: no explosives, but it was different parts of a dangerous device," said Ian Lafreniere, another police spokesman.
He didn't say what specifically the parts were. The suspect, who had a plane ticket for Los Angeles, was detained.
Everyone on the flight was questioned, and luggage was searched as a precaution, Lafreniere said.
Flights leaving to the United States were delayed for several hours yesterday morning but an airport spokeswoman said flight operations had resumed by early in the afternoon.
