Nov. 30--PLEASANTVILLE -- A bomb squad was called to a garage on Cambria Avenue on Wednesday to investigate a safe that was possibly "booby trapped" with harmful gases.
The safe was recently purchased in Virgina by local businessman Eric Doran -- owner of Doran Liquidators -- and relocated to New Jersey. The safe had not been opened in decades and has an intricate alphabetical combination.
Doran said that a Virginia locksmith who had worked on the safe about 20 years ago told him that the safe's locking mechanism could have been booby trapped with tear gas or nitro glycerin.
"God forbid we have somebody come here to open it and end up getting hurt if this is true," Doran said. "So I figured that I better call (the police) so we could rule it out."
So members of the Pleasantville Police Department and the Atlantic City bomb squad inspected the safe on Wednesday afternoon -- by drilling through it and sending a camera in it -- but could find no proof of such a mechanism inside.
However, Doran said police told him they would still prefer to be present when the safe is opened for the first time, which Doran hopes will happen in the coming days.
Contact Robert Spahr:
609-272-7147
Copyright 2011 - The Press of Atlantic City, Pleasantville, N.J.
