A hairy situation at the post office
The Cambridge bomb squad descended on the Central Square post office yesterday, ultimately, it turned out, because of a buzzing electric nose-hair trimmer.
A birthday package addressed to an MIT staff member aroused suspicion about 7:30 a.m. It would not stop humming.
Postal workers contacted the authorities, and the building was evacuated for 90 minutes.
“There was a suspicious package, kicking, making noise, vibrating,’’ said Cambridge police spokesman Frank Pasquarello. “They got concerned. We had to take certain precautions.’’
Cambridge police and fire officials responded to the call at 770 Massachusetts Ave., as did the bomb squad van. The US Postal Inspection Service was also on the scene. Green and Pleasant streets were temporarily closed.
Calls to the sender’s address went unanswered, prompting bomb technicians to open the package, Pasquarello said.
When contacted, the recipient confirmed he was expecting a package, said Bernadette Lundbohm of the Postal Service.
The package contained candy, CDs, and the nose-hair clippers, Lundbohm said. The battery-powered trimmer had somehow turned on inside the box.
“People need to take the batteries out before mailing,’’ Lundbohm said.
Of 203 billion pieces of mail per year, she said, there is about one potentially dangerous package for every 22 billion.
“Ninety-nine percent of these situations are false alarms or hoaxes,’’ she said.
During Christmas 2003, several suspicious vibrating packages turned out to be bouncing Tigger toys, she said.
