Twp. Company's Fake Bomb Causes Scare

Cincinnati TV station WLWT is reporting on a bomb scare caused by a fake bomb created by a Morris Township company.

The televised report incorrectly states the fake bomb was from "Smith's Technology" of Warren Township, in Somerset County. The company is actually Smiths Detection, a division of UK-based Smith Technologies, with an office on Columbia Road in Morris Township.

According to the report, a Cincinnati bomb squad was called to the Courtyard by Marriott in Erlanger, Ky., at about 8 a.m. Tuesday after a suitcase was delivered to the hotel without further delivery information.

When hotel managers opened the case, they discovered what appeared to C4 explosives and a pipe bomb, according to the report. One hotel employee quickly took the suitcase to a grassy area outside of the hotel, and the hotel was evacuated, the reported stated.

Before the bomb squad arrived, however, a hotel guest claimed the suitcase and reported the materials are used to test airport security systems, according to WLWT.

Smiths Detection company does, in fact, design systems for detecting explosives and other materials, and has contracts with the Homeland Security Department, a company spokesman confirmed.

"The package was an Operational Test Kit (OTK), a completely harmless simulator used for training and system verification exercises," a statement from the company said. "The OTK is completely inactive so there was no risk to the public at any time.  We are carefully reviewing the situation.  Smiths Detection produces a range of products and services that help protect the American public, US troops and law enforcement personnel across the country, and we are committed to maintaining the highest level of service."

The company's website states the company's Morris Township offices are "the principal sales and service office for Homeland Security products and systems, developed for transportation, ports, borders, and critical infrastructure markets in the USA."