A bomb threat called in Thursday that cleared customers and staff from the Nanaimo Costco was given the all clear by police at 8 p.m. when the store was turned back over to staff.
The threat was called in shortly after 2 p.m. when shoppers were evacuated and police blocked all incoming traffic from the area.
A police dog trained in explosive detection was called into search the store and surrounding grounds at Costco located in the city's north end. The search, which police described as tedious, took several hours and turned up nothing of concern.
Police also had to issue a request to the public to not call the Nanaimo RCMP detachment emergency line to ask when the store would be open after calls flooded into the detachment from people querying when the store would re-open.
We are requesting the public NOT call our non-emergency line asking when Costco will re-open,we will advise when it is #nanaimo #patience
— Nanaimo RCMP (@NanaimoRCMP) August 7, 2014
Police said the store was expected to be open for business Friday (Aug. 8).
It's the second bomb threat made in the city in the past week. Departure Bay Road was closed for several hours Friday as RCMP investigated a threat made to the 7-Eleven convenience store.