Pipe bomb intercepted at NYC post office

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - A suspicious package containing what appeared to be a pipe bomb similar to the ones sent across the country in recent days was intercepted at a post office in Midtown Manhattan Friday, said the NYPD.

The NYPD Bomb Squad and other law enforcement converged at 322 West 52nd St. where a postal worker recognized the package and alerted authorities at about 8:15 a.m.

An x-ray of the package revealed the pipe bomb.

A short time later, police announced the package was addressed to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in care of CNN. Clapper has been critical of President Donald Trump and his administration.

An arrest in connection with the pipe bombs was made in South Florida a few hours later, announced the Dept. of Justice.

The Associated Press reported the devices- containing timers and batteries and packaged in a bubble-padded manila envelope bearing six stamps and a return address for Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat and former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee- were not rigged like booby-trapped package bombs that would explode upon opening. But law enforcement was uncertain whether the devices were poorly designed or never intended to cause physical harm.

The package was isolated and removed by the NYPD Bomb Squad and taken to the NYPD's bomb detonation center in The Bronx.

This came as news broke of a confirmed pipe bomb mailed from a South Florida mail facility addressed to Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), bringing the total number of pipe bombs to 12.

The focus of the federal investigation into the devices was on the mail facility in Opa-locka.

All of the intended recipients had been critical of the Trump administration.

With the Associated Press