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  News from Cruise Ship Report for January 2007
 
World's Largest Cruise Ship Port Has 2nd Terror False Alarm in Two Days
 

The Port of Miami, world's largest cruise ship port, has had a strange couple of days, and today's terror scare (another false alarm) affected a cruise ship.

A pallet set to be loaded onto Royal Caribbean's cruise ship Majesty of the Seas sparked the latest scare Jan. 8th when a package tested positive -- not once, but six times -- for the military plastic explosive C4, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer James Judge.

So the Miami-Dade Police Department's bomb squad was called into the port to blow up the 2-foot-by-3-foot-by-1-foot package.

''It was nothing; just sprinkler parts which apparently have the same characteristics as the plastic explosive C-4,'' said Miami-Dade police spokesman Robert Williams.

The sprinklers were intended to be installed on Majesty of the Seas during an upcoming refurbishment.

The U.S. Coast Guard subsequently requested that the ship, which had been evacuated, move to another berth to resume boarding, and Majesty of the Seas ultimately was cleared for embarkation and sailed about an hour late.

The incident came only one day after a scare involving three Middle Eastern men from Dearborn, MI, in a truck bringing a cargo container to the cargo area of the port.

During the routine security check, a Miami-Dade police officer understood Amar al Hadad -- who did not have the proper identification to enter the port -- to say he was alone in the truck. But two other men were found in the truck minutes later and one had no identification.

''We wanted to be as prudent and deliberate as we could in conducting a thorough investigation in one of our nation's busiest ports,'' the police department said in a press release.

A search of the truck found only the electrical automotive parts on the truck's cargo manifest. The FBI late in the day turned the men over to Miami-Dade Police, and on Monday, all charges against the men were dismissed.

''The fact that we've had several incidents here recently is indicative of the type of screening and how serious we take security here,'' said James Maes, the port's assistant security director. "Travelers can rest assured at the decisive reactions to these types of potential threats.''

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

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