The suspicious device that shut down the rental car at the Albuquerque, New Mexico, airport, was an elaborate hoax device that included no explosives, authorities said Monday, NBC News reported.
The device, which Albuquerque police described earlier Monday as a pipe bomb, was attached to the bottom of the Avis rental car right Sunday morning next to the gas tank, said Simon Drobik, a spokesman for the Albuquerque police.
It was discovered when a mechanic put the car up on a lift for maintenance and noticed an object with a white timer attached to a battery by two blue wires.
A bomb squad robot removed the device, which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives eventually determined was a hoax, Thomas Mangan, a spokesman for the ATF's Phoenix office, said Monday.
