Series of Bomb Threats at McAllen Airport Linked

Via TheMonitor -

McALLEN — Three recent bomb threat hoaxes against McAllen-Miller International Airport, including one Monday afternoon, originated from the same location in northern Mexico, authorities said.

The latest incident, which occurred just after 4 p.m., forced passengers and airport employees out into the parking lot while bomb-sniffing dogs swept the terminal. All arriving and departing flights were delayed for more than 30 minutes.

Police say airport officials received an e-mail written in Spanish claiming one bomb was hidden inside the terminal and another was set to go off aboard a Continental Airlines flight arriving from Houston.

“We cleared the building and determined that there was no danger,” city police Chief Victor Rodriguez said. “But we take all threats like this very seriously.”

Monday’s scare was the third threat made under similar circumstances in the past two weeks. No explosives have been found in any of the incidents.

The first, which occurred via e-mail Aug. 31, shut down the airport for more than an hour and stranded three commercial flights on the runway. Emergency responders evacuated the terminal once again on Friday after another e-mail hoax.

FBI agents traced the messages to a city along the Texas-Mexico border within hours of the first threat, but have not yet identified a suspect or motive, according to sources close to the investigation who asked they not be identified because they were not authorized to publicly speak about the case.

Investigators have since pinpointed the exact location but would not name the city from which the e-mails were sent.