Pipe found in Algonquin part of geocaching game

A “suspicious” green pipe in Algonquin that prompted an investigation from the Kane County Bomb Squad and closed part of a major road Tuesday turned out to be an innocuous item associated with geocaching, Deputy Police Chief Steve Kuzynowski said.

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game that involves the use of GPS devices. As part of the game, players navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and find the geocache, or container, hidden there, according to its website.

At around 10:38 a.m. police received a call about a green PVC pipe in the wooded area behind the old village hall, 2 S. Main St. Public works employees in the area happened to find the pipe that measured between 1½ and two feet, Kuzynowski said.

Police closed the outer lane of Algonquin Road for nearly three hours while the Kane County Sheriff's bomb experts investigated. They also cordoned off the area behind village hall.

“Our first priority is safety of the area,” Kuzynowski said. “We take every precaution until we know that the item is. We weren't going to touch it unless the bomb squad looked at it.”

Police reopened Algonquin Road at around 1:40 p.m., Kuzynowski said. “Everything's back to normal, for the time being at least,” he said.