Man, 71, in custody after suspicious package found at Montreal airport

A 71-year-old man is in custody after a suspicious package was found at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport Sunday morning.

The search for a suspect led police to the suburb of LaSalle, where officers surrounded five blocks and evacuated dozens of homes.

One residence was searched and a bomb disposal robot was brought in. The suspect’s vehicle was also searched.

Hours earlier, at 5:40 a.m., airport screening officers observed a suspicious item in a passenger’s carry-on bag. They called Montreal Police, who took over the investigation.

Police insist the bag did not contain an explosive, but the package has been sent to a lab for analysis.

The incident delayed 16 flights and shut down the security screening area at the U.S. departure zone for three hours.

The suspicious bag would have been on a U.S.-bound flight.

Police also said they are looking at surveillance tapes from the airport as part of their investigation.

With a report from CTV’s Montreal Bureau Chief Genevieve Beauchemin

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  A Montreal police car blocks off a street in a residential area near Trudeau airport after the discovery of what authorities describe as a suspicious package at the airport's terminal earlier on Sunday Oct. 27, 2013. (Benjamin Shingle / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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  Police investigate a house in LaSalle, Que., believed to be linked to a suspicious package found at Trudeau Airport on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013.