Training Device Mistaken for Bomb Shuts Down Peoria Airport (UPDATED)

UPDATED (12:32 p.m. Thursday, March 31)

According to the Peoria County Sheriff's Office, a Transportation Security Agent at Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport flagged the suspicious bag at about 6:30 a.m. Authorities then evacuated and shut down the airport. The woman owning the bag was taken into custody and questioned.

The Peoria police bomb squad used a robot to open the bag and found three sticks with "dynamite" written on them, a liquid-filled mason jar and an aerosol can.

Authorities later discovered that the device is used as a training tool for women's health clinics to help employees and volunteers identify suspicious packages and possible explosives. None of the items were active materials used in explosives, and the sticks were actually dog toys, according to the sheriff's office.

The airport was reopened at around 9:45 a.m.

The woman who was transporting the device had been planning to fly to Dallas.

PHOTO: The X-ray picture of the suspicious items TSA officials found in a woman's baggage at Peoria International Airport. (From Peoria International Airport's Twitter feed)

UPDATED (11:09 a.m. Thursday, March 31): Story includes new details about discovery of bomb materials and suspects explanation of items.

Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport was evacuated and flights were delayed after the suspicious baggage was discovered by a TSA X-ray check as it was being loaded on a plane, the Peoria Journal Star reports.

The FBI and the Peoria County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident. The sheriff told the Journal Star that tubes of what might be an explosive material, a timing device and vials of liquid appeared to be in the bags discovered by the airport's Transportation Security Administration workers.

WEEK-TV in Central Illinois is reporting that authorities used a bomb robot to open the suspicious bag and found dynamite and a timer in it. The woman being questioned told law enforcement officials that the dynamite is a training device, according to WMBD-TV.

The sheriff, however, said this was not a test, and his agency is approaching the case as a legitimate bomb threat, WEEK-TV reports. The woman who was taken in for questioning was booked on a flight headed to Dallas, the Journal Star reports.

Authorities did not allow anyone into the airport while the incident was being investigated, according to a message on the airport Twitter account.

Officials finally reopened the airport at about 9:45 a.m., and a press conference was held later in the morning.

More via the Peoria Journal Star