Bomb threat shuts Detroit-Canada tunnel

Detroit --

An international commuter tunnel connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, was closed for nearly four hours Thursday after a bomb threat was phoned in on the Canadian side. No explosives were found.

The Detroit Windsor Tunnel, a busy border crossing beneath the Detroit River, was shut after a duty-free shop employee on the tunnel's Canadian plaza reported receiving a call about a bomb threat.

The tunnel was eventually closed, tunnel Executive Vice President Carolyn Brown said. Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Detroit police and other agencies flooded the plaza and entrance on the tunnel's American side.

Bomb-sniffing dogs from several federal and local agencies were called in, said Donald E. Johnson, head of Homeland Security for Detroit police.

Johnson said the agency swept the tunnel "for any type of explosives." The 82-year-old tunnel stretches about a mile across the Detroit River, one of North America's busiest trade crossings.

After the call came in, officials at the tunnel followed protocol that's established between the tunnel operators and local emergency services officials in consultation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, tunnel officials said.

"We practice this," Brown said. "Once a year we do a full-blown exercise. We shut it down on a Sunday morning and we have all the first responders in. We simulate an accident or an incident."

Since 1998, there have been nearly $50 million in facility, safety and security upgrades at the tunnel, said Neal Belitsky, tunnel chief executive.

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=b685c2f639e21598a6acbfb47c5c1220

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