Police: No explosives in Miami airport plane check

Authorities say an empty holder for detonators used in construction or oil drilling prompted a bomb squad inspection of an American Airlines plane that arrived Monday at Miami International Airport from Brazil.

A Miami-Dade Police bomb squad was dispatched to the plane after baggage handlers found a suspicious item in the cargo hold of Flight 930 from Sao Paolol. Authorities said the holder was discovered rattling around inside a container during an inspection of the plane’s cargo shipments. All of the flight’s 169 passengers had already deplaned.

“They found what appeared to be detonator devices, but it turned out to be empty containers that are made to hold detonators. There were no explosives inside them,” said police spokeswoman Det. Edna Hernandez.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith called the detonator holder “nothing threatening.”

He said the item could be used in construction or oil drilling.

“It was doing routine process that they opened it up and said ’this doesn’t look right.’ This one was not packed like they usually are,” Smith said, adding that the airlines would review how and why the item was shipped from Brazil.

The flight arrived around 8:30 a.m. Monday.