Dynamite Found in Suitcases Near Downtown Chicago

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two suitcases containing 30 pounds of dynamite were found near downtown Chicago on Sunday afternoon, spurring police to evacuate the area.

There was no detonator, and the dynamite did not pose a danger, police spokesman Matthew Jackson said.

``It appears it was dropped off there and had been there a while,'' Jackson said.

Local authorities across the United States have been on heightened alert since the Sept. 11 attacks by hijacked airplanes on New York and Washington that killed several thousand people.

A homeless person rummaging in the area on State Street just south of downtown found the explosives and flagged down a passing police car, Jackson said.

Police bomb and arson specialists cleared the area, halted nearby Chicago Transit Authority rail lines and removed the dynamite, he said.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2001