Hoax IED found near Camp Crame

MANILA, Philippines – An alarm clock rattled authorities yesterday after it was mistaken for an improvised explosive device (IED) that was found near the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Garbage collector Arnold Golbin discovered the supposed IED before noon along 4th Avenue in Barangay Bagong Lipunan, which is located around 50 to 100 meters away from the PNP headquarters.

Golbin said he and his co-workers were collecting trash in the area when they noticed a suspicious package.

He sought the help of Police Officer 1 Kevin Roland Tobias of the Aviation Security police, who was passing by in the area.

Tobias called the PNP Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD) for assistance and asked the residents to stay away from the area.

Wearing bomb suits, members of the EOD responded to the site.

After inspection, the supposed IED turned out to be a digital clock.

Police initially described the IED as a training aid, which had seven dynamites, a digital timer and a remote control battery.

Probers retracted the report and said that the package contained a digital clock.

Superintendent Edwin Ellazar, officer-in-charge of the PNP EOD operating division, said the package was not a bomb as the cardboards, which looked like dynamites did not contain explosives and the wirings were not connected.

“These are ordinary cardboards with a digital timer but are not capable of exploding,” Ellazar told reporters.

“These are used as aid during trainings,” he added.

One of the residents, Telina Sica, said they were alarmed by the suspicious package.– With Romina Cabrera