Bomb squad called out for suspicious package

A game described as the world’s largest treasure hunt was interrupted Monday in Merced when a business owner on G Street called the police about a “suspicious” person putting a package near a bush on his property.

Geocaching is a game where coordinates of a container are posted on the website and individuals hunt for them, Sgt. Joe Weiss told the Sun-Star, then the individuals add their name to the list and place the container somewhere else.

“This has happened many times over the years,” said Weiss.

Police were called around 3:20 p.m. to a business in the 2300 block of G Street.

After the police checked out the package — a gum container about the size of a drinking glass containing the list of names — they were suspicious enough to call the Merced bomb squad, Weiss said.

After the bomb squad opened the container and made sure there were no threats, they placed the container back, Weiss said.

Police later learned the container was of the popular Geocaching game.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Bomb squad called out for suspicious package."