BANGOR — Police say a suspicious package that prompted a three-hour evacuation of a federal building turned out to be a harmless electronic device.

The Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building was shut down Friday afternoon after security officers determined a package being delivered by FedEx appeared suspicious. The building houses offices of Maine’s two U.S. senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, as well as other federal offices.

“Security was checking some packages that were being delivered through their X-ray machine and saw a package that looked suspicious,” said Bangor police Lt. Steve Hunt, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The Explosive Ordnance Device team was called in for a better look. The bomb squad team determined that the item was acutally a computer mouse ordered by Sen. Snowe’s office

The evacuation came a day after Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office was evacuated in Burlington, Vt., because of a suspicious letter that appeared to be related to other packages containing a suspicious but harmless powdery substance that were sent to other members of Congress.

 


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