1960s Device Sparks Pipe Bomb Scare In Lakewood: Police

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A device from the 1960s that was believed to have been used for flares or fuses found at a recycling facility prompted an evacuation in the Lakewood industrial park and 90-minute road closure Tuesday night, police said.

Lakewood police received a call at 8:12 p.m. from an employee at the Atlantic Coast Recycling Center at 611 New Hampshire Ave. they had found what looked like a pipe bomb, Detective Lt. Gregory Staffordsmith said. The caller told police they were evacuating the building.

Police called in the Ocean County Sheriff Department K9 units that are trained in explosives detection, Staffordsmith said, and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey State Police bomb squad were called as well.

On Wednesday, Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office provided additional details.

When authorities arrived, an employee told investigators that he had seen the device on the conveyer belt that is used for transporting and separating recyclable material. The device was a cylindrical tube, about 2 feet long, and appeared to have wires attached to it.

Della Fave said the State Police bomb squad examined the object and determined that it was an incendiary device containing a primer, but as they examined it further, they concluded that it was an unexpended flare, dated February 1967. The device was determined to be safe, and was secured by the bomb squad for destruction, he said.

Staffordsmith said it is unknown how the device arrived at the facility but was most likely brought in sometime last week by a refuse company dropping off recyclables to be sorted.

New Hampshire Avenue was closed during the investigation from Oberlin Avenue to Route 70, with all of the streets that feed off New Hampshire in that stretch blocked as well, with the assistance of Lakewood Chaverim, Staffordsmith said.

The all-clear was called about 9:45 p.m. and New Hampshire Avenue was reopened.

"We would like to thank the New Jersey State Police, the Ocean County Prosecutors Office, the Ocean County Sheriff's Department and Lakewood Chaverim for their swift and diligent assistance this evening," he said.

Della Fave said the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were contacted in addition to the State Police bomb squad.

The Lakewood Scoop reported the Lakewood Fire Department and EMS were also on scene.

Karen Wall photo