A mysterious ticking package alarmed a postal worker Saturday, prompting police in Carlsbad, California to call out a bomb squad, which discovered the package was safe. The commotion was determined to be the result of Mexican jumping beans creating the noise from inside the package.
City of Carlsbad Police and Fire Departments initially responded to the postal worker’s call. Police called in the San Diego Sheriff’s Bomb/Arson Unit in order to investigate whether the package was a danger.
Several streets were cordoned off and houses evacuated during the investigation, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Carlsbad Police Lieutenant Greg Koran told the U-T that the package was taken out of the truck by the bomb squad, which then used a “robot with a water canon to blast open the package.”
It was then that the jumping beans were discovered and determined to be the source of the ticking. It was reported that the noise from the beans occurs when the bean pods get warm and tiny moth larvae within writhes around.
A news release regarding the incident simply stated, “The San Diego Sheriff’s Bomb/Arson Unit responded to investigate and determined that the package was safe. No one was injured as a result of the incident and no property was damaged.”
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Photo: UPI