STA, 27 December 2019 - The Obrežje border crossing with Croatia was closed for around an hour on Friday morning for a reported bomb threat as a suspicious device was found in the luggage of a bus passenger. The scare proved to be unwarranted as an inspection by bomb technicians showed that the device was harmless.
Initial police reports suggested that the vital border crossing was closed due to a security event, noting that no person was injured, while the 24ur news portal reported that Obrežje was closed due to a bomb threat.
The crossing between the Slovenian A2 motorway and the Croatian A3 motorway, located near the Croatian capital of Zagreb, was closed as a suspicious device was found in the luggage of a passenger entering Slovenia on-board a bus of the bus operator Flixbus.
The luggage with the suspicious device has been secured, and the man who had been carrying it had been restrained, the initial reports said.
However, inspection by bomb technicians of the special police unit showed that the device was harmless and the 32-year-old Russian citizen has been released. The border crossing and the motorway have reopened for traffic, the Novo Mesto Police Department said.
According to Robert Perc, the head of the department's operative and communications centre, the item has been identified as a piano tuner with a charging device.
The police explained that an x-ray check of the luggage detected an electronic device with a charger whose features and shape had raised suspicion that it could be an explosive device with an ignition mechanism.
The x-ray shot was analysed and it was confirmed that the device is suspicious. The owner was detained and the remaining bus passengers, passengers at the border crossings and police and Financial Administration officers located there were secured.
The border crossing was evacuated, and traffic was restricted and closed for civilians. Cars and buses were rerouted to the nearby border crossings of Slovenska Vas and Rigonce, and cargo traffic was diverted to the Metlika border crossing, some 35 kilometres south-west.
The detained person turned out to be award-winning concert pianist Andrey Gugnin, who graduated from the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in 2010.
The device in question. Source: Andrey Gugnin's Facebook
Following the incident, Gugnin urged his colleague musicians on his Facebook page to always carry these pedals in carry-on bags to avoid such unpleasant incidents.
"The police held me for over two hours in handcuffs, hands behind my back, explaining nothing," he wrote, adding that when the situation was cleared, "they apologised, brought me coffee, and were very friendly".
The 32-year-old Russian also conceded that in their position, he would have come to the same conclusion since the pedal's parts do resemble detonators, batteries and SIM cards.
