Suspicious package at Montreal airport; 1 held

MONTREAL – A 71-year-old man who was headed to Los Angeles was detained after parts of a potential explosive device were found in his carry-on luggage at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport, police said late Sunday.

Police blocked off a residential area near the airport Sunday evening, and about 20 residents were ordered from their homes. Police said they were going to search an apartment.

The package was spotted at a security checkpoint in the U.S. departures area early Sunday morning, said Jean-Pierre Brabant, a Montreal police spokesman.

The items in the package were not explosives.

“It was different parts of a potential device. To make that a little clearer, let’s say you are trying to do a bomb inside the luggage, but one thing was missing: no explosives, but it was different parts of a dangerous device,” said Ian Lafreniere, another police spokesman.

He didn’t say what specifically the parts were.

The suspect, who had a plane ticket for Los Angeles, was detained but had not yet been questioned or charged, Lafreniere said in an email early Monday.

Everyone on the flight was questioned, and luggage was searched as a precaution, Lafreniere said.

An airport spokeswoman said flight operations had resumed.