Bomb scare at Boston airport

Police arrested a 19-year-old student at gunpoint at Boston's Logan International Airport yesterday in a scare sparked by what authorities thought was a bomb strapped to her body.

Star Simpson, a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told police the device - a circuit board measuring roughly 5 cm by 15 cm, with protruding wires, lights and a nine-volt battery - was an art project.

Ms Simpson approached an information counter at the airport's arrivals terminal around 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) to inquire about a passenger on an arriving flight. She wore a black, hooded sweatshirt with the circuit board on the front and the words "Socket to me, Course VI" on the back. She was also carrying modelling clay.

After speaking with a service agent, she walked out of the airport. Within two minutes Ms Simpson was approached by police with sub-machine guns. She was charged with possession of a hoax device and released on $750 bail. The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

The airport, which was the departure point for the two hijacked airliners that were crashed into the World Trade Centre on September 11.