Explosives found in bus terminal

The Philadelphia Greyhound Bus terminal in Center City was evacuated Friday morning after a station employee discovered a suitcase containing the plastic explosive C-4 and 1,000 feet of blasting cord.

Bomb squad officers and agents from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms responded to the bus depot, located at 1001 Filbert St., at around 10:30 a.m. After they neutralized the material, it was removed for testing.

According to bomb squad officer Lt. Tom Fitzpatrick, the third of a pound of C-4 and the blasting cord would have been enough to level the terminal.

"That's a lot of punch," Fitzpatrick said. "We would have been looking for a new bus terminal."

However, Fitzpatrick said that no detonation devices were found along with the explosives, and that there was little danger of an accidental explosion.

The suitcase was left in one of the station's public lockers at 2:43 a.m. on Sept. 29. After no additional money was paid for the locker, the suitcase was moved to a storage area by a station employee on Oct. 3, in accordance with Greyhound policy.

On Friday, the suitcase was opened by an employee, and the explosives were discovered wrapped in plastic trash bags.

According to Linda Vizi, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Philadelphia field office, the bureau is also involved in the ongoing investigation.

"We're working together very closely with the Philly police," Vizi said. "We're offering certain expertise that we have, but we also have Philly police detectives working on our joint terrorism task force, and we're using the expertise of their bomb squad."

C-4, an abbreviation of Composite-4, is formed from mixing a compound called RDX, research development explosive, with another chemical to make it a plastic. It was developed for the U.S. military during the Vietnam era, but has been used by terrorist groups in the recent past.

In October 2000, C-4 was used in the attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors and injured dozens more while the ship was refueling in Yemen. The terrorist network of Osama bin Laden is believed to be responsible for the Cole attack.

According to Penn Professor Stephen Gale, a terrorism specialist, access to C-4 is generally heavily restricted and difficult to obtain.

"You can't buy it," Gale said. "There are some demolition companies that buy it. It's not the kind of stuff you buy on the open market."

However, Gale said that it did not surprise him that a group or individual had been able to acquire C-4 illegally, as it has been used in the past by terrorist organizations. But Gale did note the amount of blasting cord found with the C-4.

"The only thing that's surprising from my point of view in what you saw from the bus station report is that there was a thousand feet of primer cord," Gale said. "You need a couple of feet."

According to Vizi, authorities have not determined a motive or linked the explosives to any terrorist group.

"There is no specific information at this time saying that this is related to a specific terrorist group or to a specific motive," Vizi said. "It's very, very early in the investigation."

Vizi would not comment on leads that the FBI had received or on how the investigation is being conducted.

But Gale said authorities may be aided in tracking down the source of the explosives by the fact that C-4 generally has a special chemical added to it identifying it with a specific batch.

"Almost all legally manufactured C-4, at least in last several years has had a tracer put into it," Gale said.

Gale said he thought the large amount of primer cord was either an indication that the person who placed the explosives in the terminal did not know much about explosives, or that the cord was going to be cut and divided for a large number of people.

However, Gale said that the first explanation "sounds less likely" than the second.

The Greyhound terminal was reopened at 2:40 p.m. on Friday, but the station's lockers remain closed. According to Greyhound spokeswoman Kristin Parsley, the company does not know how long the lockers will remain out of service.

"They've closed them indefinitely," Parsley said.

The Associated Press and Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Alexis Gilbert contributed to this report.

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