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Hazmat Scare On Broad Street Snarls Traffic, Stops Subway

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Around 8:30 a.m. Sunday, a woman approached a police lieutenant traveling northbound on Broad Street and flagged him down at the intersection of Broad and Chew Avenue.

The woman showed the lieutenant a toiletry kit, containing little tubes of brown powder that she claims she found in her husband's closet. The officer examined the tubes and saw that one had a brown powder on one side and a liquid on the other side.

The officer called for a Hazmat response suspecting that it may be an explosive. The bomb squad determined that the substance was not an explosive. They will be doing further testing to determine what the substance is.

The woman's husband was taken in for questioning. Homeland security is also involved because police say the male is from Africa.

During the incident, Broad Street was closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic from Olney Avenue to Grange Avenue.

Underground subway traffic was also stopped. The substance was deemed safe around 9:30 a.m. Traffic was allowed to move through the area after 10 a.m.

Reported By Jericka Duncan, CBS 3.

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