Asia-Pacific

NY: Feared letter bomb is but a greeting card

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-01-20 09:26

NEW YORK - New York City police say a suspicious letter sent to a midtown Manhattan bank turned out to be a greeting card from a headhunting firm.

A building security officer pushes people back outside 1177 Sixth Avenue, while emergency personnel investigate a suspicious package at the New York offices of Israel's Bank Hapoalim, January 19, 2011. Police had dispatched the bomb squad to the midtown Manhattan office building after bank security was alarmed by the package, which had wires and batteries, but the investigation showed it was not an explosive device. [Photo/Agencies]

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Police say the envelope sent to the Hapoalim Bank, an Israeli commercial bank, was suspicious because an X-ray detected wires and a battery. The bank near Rockefeller Center was evacuated as a precaution and the bomb squad was called.

Police say the letter was a recordable greeting card sent to the bank. The call came at around 10 am.