Suspicious package turned out to be weightlifting weights

A suspicious package found at the Batavia post office Thursday morning turned out to be weightlifting weights being mailed to someone in West Virginia.

Police and the Kane County bomb investigation squad were called at 5:19 a.m. to the post office at Mill Street and Randall Road, Batavia Police Deputy Chief Dan Eul said. Employees had already evacuated the building and put the package outside.

They were let back in at 8:11 a.m.

A postal worker taking packages out of the automated postal center in the office’s lobby thought they heard the package ticking, said Beverly Howard, customer relations coordinator for the postal service’s Central Illinois District. The package had been placed in the bin Wednesday evening.

Authorities were able to contact the sender, X-rayed the package and others that had been in the bin, then opened the package.

“We’re sorry about the scare and the uproar,” Howard said.

The customer service counter opened as usual at 8:30 a.m.