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WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A ticking clock given as a gift to a government minister prompted the evacuation of New Zealand's central bank on Thursday.
Several hundred people were evacuated from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand building and surrounding streets in Wellington's government district were cordoned off when a suspicious parcel was found at 8:30 a.m.
Police said a parcel that arrived in the offices of the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, a tenant in the building, aroused suspicions from the way it was packaged and the noise.
"For safety's sake, the building was evacuated and explosives experts from the army brought in," Inspector Phil Gubb told reporters at the scene.
"However, the package was harmless. It was a gift from an overseas government to a cabinet minister."
The clock was a gift to Science Minister Pete Hodgson from a delegation who attended a meeting of Asian and Pacific science ministers held in New Zealand last week, the ministry said.
Police gave the all-clear after two hours.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20040318/od_nm/bomb_newzealand_dc
Several hundred people were evacuated from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand building and surrounding streets in Wellington's government district were cordoned off when a suspicious parcel was found at 8:30 a.m.
Police said a parcel that arrived in the offices of the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, a tenant in the building, aroused suspicions from the way it was packaged and the noise.
"For safety's sake, the building was evacuated and explosives experts from the army brought in," Inspector Phil Gubb told reporters at the scene.
"However, the package was harmless. It was a gift from an overseas government to a cabinet minister."
The clock was a gift to Science Minister Pete Hodgson from a delegation who attended a meeting of Asian and Pacific science ministers held in New Zealand last week, the ministry said.
Police gave the all-clear after two hours.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20040318/od_nm/bomb_newzealand_dc
