North Shore Sun

A man headed to New Haven, Conn., was stopped by authorities Tuesday morning as he was in his car in line to board the Port Jefferson Ferry with an inactive grenade in the vehicle. The device turned out to be a harmless paperweight made from a deactivated grenade.

The vehicle of the man, whose name has not been released, underwent a random check at about 11:15 a.m. conducted by U.S. Coast Guard officers and members of local law enforcement. Part of a process called VIPR, or Visual Intermodal Prevention Response, the check is a joint operation of the Coast Guard and local law enforcement and it involves looking for suspicious packages that might present a threat to public safety.

The paperweight was on the floor in front of the front passenger seat when inspectors spotted it.

The man was taken into custody and the area was locked down for about an hour while members of Suffolk County's bomb squad unit made sure the device was safe. The resulting traffic jam required the assistance of Brookhaven Town's public safety officers.

After authorities determined the suspected device was a demilitarized, non-operational grenade that had been turned into a paperweight, the man was released.

"It was like a paperweight that you could buy in an Army-Navy surplus store," said Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie, a spokesman for the Coast Guard. "There are collectors and military buffs that purchase these things and that's what this was.

"From what I understand, they moved the vehicle from the scene while they were checking it out, and everything is moving once again in the harbor," said town spokesman Jack Krieger Tuesday. "It held up some boat traffic at the time."

The case has since been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security spokesman Philip Salmon was not immediately available for comment.

peggy@northshoresun.com