NYPD: Electronic greeting card causes bank scare
New York City Fire Department responders leave the Israeli Bank Hapoalim on Sixth Ave after a bomb scare. (Jan. 19, 2011) Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
A suspicious white envelope delivered to an Israeli bank Wednesday turned out to be an electronic greeting card from a headhunting firm, police said.
The 6-inch by 3-inch package aroused suspicion because it was wrapped in bubble wrap and addressed to an officer of Bank Hapoalim, near Rockefeller Center, but the name was misspelled and there was no return address, police said. It was X-rayed in a mailroom, where wires and a battery were detected, so the bomb squad was called at about 10 a.m.
Officers examined it and opened it safely, and found it was a recordable greeting card, police said.
The mail room and a few floors above and below were evacuated as a precaution. No traffic was disrupted, and workers were being allowed back in by midday Wednesday.
On an average day, New York City police get 90 to 100 reports of suspicious packages.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
