In this image issued on Wednesday Nov. 7, 2018 by the Catalan regional police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, a security scanner image shows a suspicious object found in a suitcase of a female rail passenger in Barcelona, Spain. A hand grenade-shaped belt buckle in the suitcase of a train passenger triggered major disruptions Wednesday on rail services in Spain's two main cities, prompting station evacuations before police declared the incident a false alarm. An official with Spain's National Police said the alert was ended after agents in Madrid confirmed that the suspicious object in the suitcase of a female passenger who had traveled on a high-speed train from Barcelona didn't pose any danger. (Mossos d'Esquadra, Via AP)
The Associated Press
MADRID (AP) - A hand grenade-shaped belt buckle in the suitcase of a train passenger triggered major disruptions Wednesday on rail services in Spain's two main cities, prompting station evacuations before police declared the incident a false alarm.
An official with Spain's National Police said the alert was ended after agents in Madrid confirmed that the suspicious object in the suitcase of a female passenger who had traveled on a high-speed train from Barcelona didn't pose any danger.
The official was not authorized to be named in media reports.
"Everything returns to normal," said the National Police in a brief tweet explaining that disruptions in the long-distance and commuter train stations in the Spanish capital had been due to the false alarm.
The search in the capital followed police searching high-speed trains and railway tracks in the country's second largest city, Barcelona, after the central Sants station's security scanner identified an object shaped like a possible explosive device inside a suitcase.
According to the police in the Catalonia region which tweeted an image of the scanned suitcase, the object turned out to be a belt buckle.
Spain's railway infrastructure managing company, ADIF, which handles security in train stations, didn't immediately respond to questions about why the suspicious case was allowed onto the train.
An AP reporter at the scene in Barcelona saw long queues of passengers waiting for rail traffic to resume.
A homegrown extremist cell killed 16 people in August last year in Barcelona and a nearby coastal resort in consecutive vehicle and knife attacks that were later claimed by the Islamic State group.
___
Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain.
Mossos d'Esquadra regional police in Catalonia cordon off one of the entrances at the city's main train station in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. Authorities in Barcelona say the city's main train station has re-opened after it closed for more than one hour at Wednesday's rush hour while police searched for possible explosives in a suspicious suitcase. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
The Associated Press
Passengers wait outside the terminal as Mossos d'Esquadra regional police inspect the city's main train station in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. Authorities in Barcelona say the city's main train station has re-opened after it closed for more than one hour at Wednesday's rush hour while police searched for possible explosives in a suspicious suitcase. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
The Associated Press
Mossos d'Esquadra regional police in Catalonia cordon off one of the entrance at the city's main train station in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. Authorities in Barcelona say the city's main train station has re-opened after it closed for more than one hour at Wednesday's rush hour while police searched for possible explosives in a suspicious suitcase. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
The Associated Press