Detroit-Windsor Tunnel reopens after border crossing bomb threat

(WXYZ) - The Detroit Windsor Tunnel has reopened after a bomb threat shut down the international border crossing for hours.

The threat was called in to the Duty Free Shop around 12:30 p.m. Thursday on the Windsor side of the border. The call was tracked to a phone booth in Windsor near Goyeau and South University , just a couple of blocks away from the tunnel. 

The tunnel was immediately cleared of traffic.

“Probably within two minutes of receiving the call we evacuated the tunnel in both directions and, so Customs on both sides cleared the folks who were in the tunnel relatively quickly,” said Carolyn Brown, Executive Vice President of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

Detroit Police took the lead in the investigation and worked together with Windsor Police, Customs and Border Patrol and Homeland Security.

Bomb-sniffing dogs were used to check out all possible areas from one end of the tunnel to the other.

During the incident, authorities issued a safety zone keeping marine traffic clear on the Detroit River from Belle Isle to Cobo Center.

Barges could be seen turning around on the Detroit River as they were not permitted to enter the safety zone.