Bomb Parts Undetected for Weeks at Fed Building

A package containing “explosive components” was left unattended and unchecked for three weeks by security guards in a federal building in Detroit. The package is now being investigated by the FBI, which moved it to its crime lab in Quantico, Va., The Washington Post reported.

The package was discovered in the 26-story Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building that contains regional offices for the FBI, IRS, the Peace Corps and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. A security guard brought the package, which may have belonged to a construction crew, into the building, sources told the Post.

Security finally screened the package after three weeks and called the city’s bomb squad and federal authorities. A security guard has been suspended and others may face disciplinary action, a Federal Protective Service’s official said, according to the Post.

In 2009, government investigators managed to get bomb-making materials past screeners in 10 federal buildings. The Government Accountability Office is currently conducting investigations to the Federal Protective Service tasked with protecting 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, the Post said,