Downtown traffic was stalled on Johnson Street just east of Blanshard Street at Friday at rush hour as Victoria police closed the intersection for 2 1/2 hours to investigate a report of suspicious packages.
A member of the public reported seeing a man throw several packages into a metal garbage can next to a bus stop on Johnson, just east of the intersection, about 4 p.m., said police spokesman Bowen Osoko. Police used an “abundance of caution” in deciding to close the street, he said.
The force’s explosive-detecting dog was brought in, and it was determined the garbage can did not contain explosives.
A police officer extracted the package, which turned out to contain bags of injection drug needles, Osoko said.
A suspect has been identified and police will be following up.
He noted there are containers for safe disposal of needles in the vicinity.
Once our explosives detection dog cleared the scene we were able to open up Johnson street to #yyjtraffic #goodboy pic.twitter.com/IoTNci8gRS
— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) April 22, 2017
Johnson Street is now open. The packages were determined to contain what appeared to be used needles. #yyjtraffic
— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) April 22, 2017
We’ve closed Johnson at Blanshard as we investigate a suspicious package. Please consider an alternate route. #yyj #yyjtraffic
— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) April 22, 2017
