Alfdog

Nearby Interstates Closed

POSTED: 7:02 am PST January 31, 2007
UPDATED: 2:05 pm PST January 31, 2007

BOSTON -- It appears that five "hoax devices" found at several Boston locations Wednesday, hours after officials detonated a suspicious package on an elevated bus station, were part of a marketing campaign by a Turner Broadcasting company.

The company released a statement late Wednesday that took responsibility for the packages:

"The 'packages' in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."

One of the devices, described by officials as a pipe bomb, was found in the basement of the Tufts New England Medical Center.

Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact location of the billboards, according to the statement, and regrets that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger.

"Emergency deployment teams were sent into the center of the city immediately upon these reports. There were significant shutdowns of not only highways, but rail traffic with the MBTA," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. "Several of the devices do have common characteristics, but it is too early to say how many are connected."

The first device was found under Interstate 93, and the state police bomb squad was called and detonated the package in Sullivan Square just before 10 a.m. Officials said it contained an electronic circuit board with some components that were "consistent with an improvised explosive device," but they said it had no explosives.

Several hours later, Boston police said the department received four calls, all at about 1 p.m., reporting the devices. Officials responded to at least nine locations, including the Boston University Bridge, the Longfellow Bridge, the McGrath O'Brien Highway in Somerville, Harvard Avenue in Brighton, a location near the intersection of Stuart and Columbus streets, a location near Washington and Water streets and under the McCarthy Overpass in Somerville, according to Davis.

A device described by officials as a pipe bomb was found in the basement of the Tufts New England Medical Center at 185 Harrison Ave.

Davis said that residents should not be afraid to enter or leave the city and that additional police resources have been deployed to help ensure people that they are safe.

"It's a hoax, and it's not funny," Gov. Deval Patrick said.

Mayor Tom Menino said that all of the packages found posed no danger and that several police departments are working together to investigate suspicious calls about the devices.

"Public safety officials are all working together. There is no time for anyone to panic. We believe we have the situation in hand. Go about your business," Menino said. "The individuals who placed these packages should be warned that there is a heavy penalty -- two to five years imprisonment for each one of them. We are not playing around."

Storrow Drive eastbound was shut down for a brief time, and the MBTA suspended service on the Red Line and planned to bus afternoon commuters between Kendall and Park Street stations.

"Anytime you get a report of a suspicious device, it is always a concern," U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Scott Carr said. "We went ahead and shut down the waterways so we could clear the area and keep everybody safe."

"Our device was not an active device. We are still treating the area as a crime scene. There were no injuries. Everyone was evacuated properly, and everyone now back to their locations," Tufts New England Medical Center's Brooke Hynes said.

MBTA Lt. Sal Venturelli said police were told about the first package by a transit passenger who spotted it on a column that supports I-93. The parcel was located on an elevated structure above the bus way and below I-93 in the Charlestown section of Boston at about 8 a.m.

"This is a perfect example of our passengers taking part in Homeland Security," Venturelli said.


Cliffs: Kiss teh rings beeeeeeaaaatttccchhhh

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Al Blue4.6l

oooooooooooohhhh good.

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03RedFireGT

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32 Valve swap coming soon
BDRA #109

SilverWing

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Paid surveys

Adam

Hahahha

Leave it to the guys at ATHF

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-2001 Audi A4 1.8t Quattro

Al Blue4.6l

awesome show description from Foxnews

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Green5.0

Greatest news story EVAR!

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[img]http://www.****************/ims/u/241/937/149922.jpg[/img]
2007 Galaxy Gray Mazda3s Touring

My flickr Page

Al Blue4.6l

oh my god...they just arrested two people for putting them up!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,249200,00.html

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Chad072

What a bunch of f@gs. Just another example of over reacting when the media comes into play. I don't understand how they can call it a hoax. Looks like advertising to me. I don't see how those were any different than fliers stapled to light poles or put on car windows.

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VincentPrice

Pretty funny stuff. It was on every radio and news station over here all night.

FWP!

heard about this on the radio this morning. f'in hilarious.

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Daytona '10

http://willpphoto.smugmug.com/

MATTWEB

Jesus h. Christ

Soccer moms with cell phones caused this mess i'm sure.

LgStang

I love it!

Best show EVER!!!!!

Silly mooninites.

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2008 Ford Escape
1987 Saleen #062

Lunchbox

How embarrassing for the folks of bahston. Not one damn person saw that and laughed? They were up for TWO WEEKS.

That place is a fuggin dump anyway.

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LgStang

They did it in 10 different cities I read, Austin being one of them.

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2008 Ford Escape
1987 Saleen #062

Lunchbox

Yup, and who else had a problem with them? None. Because apparently the rest of the country AREN'T FUVCKING RETARDED. You know they are just trying to save face at this point. My favorite line from the article;



"eh, let's blow it up anyway. All were going to do otherwise is drink and be dicks."

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asschafer

they did it in chi, too, but i didnt get a chance to see any of them

big to the people that actually thought they were bombs. yay sensationalist media

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the audio equivalent of braille

asschafer

hahah, your quote was gold

all i saw it consisted of was basically a lite-brite

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the audio equivalent of braille

LgStang

Pretty much.

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2008 Ford Escape
1987 Saleen #062