Honey Bottles Cause Calif. Airport Shutdown
Substance Tested Positive For Explosive, Official Says
POSTED: 7:43 am HST January 5, 2010
UPDATED: 11:30 am HST January 5, 2010
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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Authorities said the suspicious material inside luggage that prompted the shutdown of the Bakersfield airport turns out to be five soft drink bottles filled with honey. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said the bottles, inside a checked bag at Meadows Field, had tested positive for traces of an explosive. Youngblood says investigators are trying to determine whether there was something in the honey or on the bag that caused security alarms to go off shortly before 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. They have been questioning the bag's owner, 31-year-old Francisco Ramirez, a gardener from Milwaukee who said he flew to Bakersfield to spend Christmas with his sister. The discovery of the suspicious material halted flights to and from the airport, reported KERO-TV in Bakersfield. Two security officers reported feeling ill after being exposed to the bottles.
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