MONTREAL – A SWAT team in Montreal has detonated a suspicious package found in a vacant lot just outside the Lionel-Groulx metro station.
A spokesperson for the fire department confirmed that it appeared to contain a large bottle of water and posed no serious threat.
The Lionel-Groulx metro station was closed just after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning as Montreal police investigated a suspicious package left outside the station in a nearby park.
Montreal police spokesperson Dany Richer said that a concerned citizen called the police after spotting the item.
“It could just be that someone forgot something outside but we have to be sure,” Richer added.
The metro station and a nearby apartment building were evacuated and a security perimeter was immediately established.
After a SWAT team was despatched to the scene, the suspicious package was analysed by a remote-controlled robot. Equipped with sensors, it is supposed to be able to detect and defuse improvised explosive devices.
At around 10:30 a.m., onlookers and media watched as the robotic device approached and then detonated the package.
The metro as a whole remained unaffected: the Green and Orange lines continued to run, although no trains stopped at the Lionel-Groulx metro station.
The Montreal transit agency (STM) provided a shuttle service between Place St-Henri and Georges-Vanier on the Orange line and between Charlevoix and Atwater on the Green line.
Atwater Ave, which had been closed to traffic, reopened at 11:10 a.m. The incident caused severe traffic congestion in the area and headaches for commuters in the area.
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