BALTIMORE, Oct 18: A security scare closed two major Baltimore highway tunnels for about two hours on Tuesday, in the latest incident to unnerve the public and force officials to defend their actions as necessary precaution.

The closure of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and the Fort McHenry Tunnel, disrupting traffic on a major East Coast thoroughfare, was based on information from an “ongoing investigation” by the FBI and state and local authorities, Maryland Transportation Authority Police Chief Gary McLhinney said.

Searches of the tunnels and various vehicles turned up nothing suspicious, McLhinney said in announcing the resumption of traffic along the heavily traveled north-south Interstate 95 highway.

“When we get information ... we’re going to err on the side of caution, an abundance of caution,” he said.

The Baltimore scare occurred a little more than a week after New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was criticized for placing the city’s subways on high alert, even though the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security had said they doubted the security threat’s credibility.—Reuters