5 Things to Know About the Pipe Bomb Saga
3. Were these 'hoax' bombs?
The New York Times reports that a law enforcement official has said that the devices were made with a 1-inch-by-6-inch length of PVC pipe that was filled what is believed to be pyrotechnic powder and broken glass for shrapnel.
The bomb devices were also said to have a battery with a digital clock and a hot bridgewire initiator.
As The New York Times notes, some bomb technicians who studied photos of the device sent to the CNN office claim that the bomb had the markings of fake explosives that would be more like the ones seen on TV.
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As one example, the digital clock was taped to the middle of the pipe.
The law enforcement official that spoke with The New York Times said that "investigators were examining the possibility that they were hoax devices that were constructed to look like bombs but would not have exploded."
Some in the conservative media have opined that that the packages could be a a liberal "hoax," which has led some in the left-wing media to decry such a possibility.
The FBI is continuing the investigate the packages. On Thursday, a federal law enforcement source said that the FBI is focusing on leads in Florida.
The 10 packages with the devices were not the only packages to have been deemed suspicious on Wednesday.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that a suspicious "device" was sent to his Manhattan office. But the package was later cleared and determined that there was no device of any kind. It was only a letter and USB flash drive.
In San Diego, a building that housed the San Diego Tribune was evacuated after suspicious packages were discovered near the front door of the building. The packages turned out to contain a shoe, two children's books, a football, an empty bag of chips and one hat.
