Authorities found only clothes in a bag left outside the Post Office on Main Street in Columbus.
Several police officers responded to the scene Tuesday morning after a passerby reported seeing the dark duffle bag outside the building’s front entrance, city Public Information Officer Joe Dillon said.
Mississippi Highway Patrol sent a bomb-sniffing dog to inspect the bag, and the canine detected no signs of explosives, according to a Columbus Police Department tweet. Authorities opened the bag to find clothes, Dillon said, and issued an all-clear about 1 p.m.
Dillon said Columbus Air Force Base declined a police department request for a canine unit, deferring instead to Post Office officials since the building is federal property.
He said Post Office officials later informed police they would treat the bag as abandoned, rather than suspicious, and leave it alone to see if someone comes to retrieve it.
CPD notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security upon arriving at the scene Tuesday morning, Dillon said.
The Post Office did not evacuate while police investigated and continued to serve customers.
Debbie Pennington, a superintendent for the Columbus Post Office, said Tuesday’s case was an unusual occurrence. Once the bag was discovered, she said the Post Office worked with local authorities while contacting a postal inspector in Jackson. After determining the bag contained no immediate threat, the postal inspector ordered to treat it as abandoned property.
The Post Office later requested MHP to bring a dog to sniff the bag later in the day, she said.
The bag was still sitting in the same spot outside the Post Office on Wednesday morning.
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