Dale Mabry Reopened, Suspicious Package Was Filled With Garbage

A woman riding her bicycle spotted an unattended pakage under a mailbox near Dale Mabry Highway in South Tampa this afternoon. When she noticed the package was still there 45 minutes later, she called Tampa Police. 

After closing Dale Marbey Highway for part of the morning, police determined that the package was nothing more than a box of garbage, addressed to the Tampa Bay Times.

"With everything that's gone on last week in Boston, it just seemed odd," Laurel Rissey said in an interview with WTVT.  "So I called it in. Honestly I thought it would be nothing," she said according to the article.

Police closed all lanes of South Dale Mabry Highway from Bay to Bay Boulevard to San Juan Street as they investigated the package. 

An officer saw that the package had no return address and it was addressed to the Tampa Bay Times. After a TPD K-9 alerted on the package, the regional bomb team responded to the scene.

Further investigation revealed that the package, addresses to the Times was filled with garbage.

Police are working to determine just what caused the dog to alert to the package.

"An odor by itself can be harmless, but if it is combined with other chemicals it could be considered harmful," according to Tampa Police.

Last week, a suspicious package near a Tampa cruise ship caused the evacuation of Terminal 3 at the port. The package turned out to be a liquor delivery.