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Toronto bomb scare: Potential explosive device attached to a bicycle

Employees and customers evacuated, area locked down for hours

Photo by: Raymond Deluse

Two people were detained by police on Saturday following an investigation into a potential explosive device at Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport.

During the investigation, the airport was evacuated and nearby residents were not allowed to leave their homes.

“We’re doing our best to investigate that angle and learn what they know as quickly as we can,” Acting Insp. Jason Albanese said on Saturday. Albanese told reporters that airport authorities noticed a suspicious package attached to a bicycle at the ferry terminal at 4 p.m. and called the police.

Albanese said that a “potential explosive device” was attached to a bicycle, but would not go into further detail. “Our explosives disposal unit is on scene. They are investigating. I can’t get into too much more information with respect to what we’ve located,” he said.

According to a Toronto Sun report, the police were concerned for a reason. “It had a digital timer and tested positive for two substances used in explosives,” an airport insider told the outlet.

Later in the evening, Toronto, police tweeted that a controlled explosion would occur and that people in the area would hear a loud bang.

Airport officials would later confirm that the bike had been removed and was in the hands of police for investigation.