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Woman freed to fly after tests on explosives negative

From Deb Brunswick
CNN

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West Virginia
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Transportation Security Administration

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Pakistani woman, whose carry-on items initially tested positive for explosives and prompted the evacuation of a West Virginia airport terminal, later was put on another flight with her luggage, said an airport official.

Additional testing proved the woman's two items did not contain explosives, said Larry G. Salyers, director of the Tri-State Airport near Huntington, West Virginia.

Authorities did not charge the passenger, whose name was not released, and let her go Thursday after additional testing by the West Virginia State Police proved negative, Salyers said.

The woman, who lives in Huntington, passed through Transportation Security Administration screening at 9:15 a.m. Thursday on her way to board a US Airways flight bound for Detroit, Michigan, Salyers said.

About 100 people initially were evacuated from the airport, he said, and four inbound flights and four outbound flights were canceled.

The FBI has custody of the two containers and plans to run additional tests, said FBI agent Jeff Killeen.

"This is a reflection of the tenor of the times, especially in light of what happened last week," Killeen said, referring to British authorities' disruption of a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic passenger planes.

After a preliminary check Thursday, TSA employees decided four containers in the woman's carry-on bag were suspicious enough to warrant further testing, said Amy Von Walter, an agency spokeswoman. There were positive test results for two of the items.

A machine that uses swabs to find traces of explosives showed the first positive result, and a certified TSA canine team returned the second, Von Walter said.

Each container underwent both tests. The State Police tested the items later Thursday afternoon.

"For some reason there was apparently enough residue on the outside of the containers to set off the first two tests," Salyers said. He could not say what the residue was or its origin.

The first container was bottled water, while the second one was a facial lotion with a pump, Salyers said.

CNN's Rob Frehse, Chris Browne and Shannon Troetel contributed to this report.

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