Suspect package prompts border closure in Blaine

BLAINE — Canadian officials closed the Peace Arch border crossing at Blaine Sunday night after a woman who was denied entry to the United States claimed she had something suspicious in a bag.

Traffic was diverted to the Pacific Highway crossing about a mile away in northwest Washington, and to the crossings at Lynden and Sumas farther to the east.

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police bomb squad was called to the scene.

The woman tried to enter the United States, but was turned back to Canada and, apparently angered, told a Canadian border officer that she had something suspicious in a bag, Inspector Derren Lench, RCMP watch commander in Surrey, British Columbia, told KOMO-TV in Seattle.

Further details about the woman and why she was denied entry to the U.S. were not immediately available, and it was not immediately known how long the crossing would be closed.

Paula Shore, spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, said crossing times were relatively short at the other crossings.

Blaine is 100 miles north of Seattle, and the Peace Arch crossing is one of the busiest on the U.S.-Canadian border.