Bomb-sniffing dog causes false alarm in busy building

Employees at a building in Libis, Quezon City, were temporarily evacuated at 8 a.m. Thursday after a bomb-sniffing dog sat near a suspicious-looking backpack, indicating that it contained an explosive.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm as the police said there was no bomb found inside the bag, just personal items.

Insp. Noel Sublay, explosives and ordnance chief of the Quezon City Police District, said the dog, a Labrador trained to find explosives, used by the security personnel of 1800 Building in Eastwood, Libis, was probably just tired or worse, in need of additional training.

Sublay said he and his men were called in by the building security after the dog sat beside the backpack which was found by roving guards at the eighth floor at around 8 a.m.

Everyone in the building was asked to leave while the site was cordoned off to allow the police to check whether there was a bomb inside the unattended bag.

A check, however, later revealed that it contained personal items, including among others, baby powder and rubbing alcohol.

The security guards said the dog may have reacted to the chemicals in the items inside the bag although the police stressed that the dog should have been trained to just be sensitive to specific chemicals used in explosives.

Sublay urged security agencies to carefully train their dogs in detecting explosives and bombs to avoid false alarms.

“We told the security agency of the building that they should have used another dog to double-check and make sure,” Sublay said. Julie M. Aurelio