Minutes after Trump leaves for Asia, man says he 'dropped explosives' in White House area

No explosives were found. The man was taken into custody and charged with one count of felony threats.

IndiaToday.in  | Edited by Ganesh Kumar Radha Udayakumar
Washinton, New Delhi, November 4, 2017 | UPDATED 08:45 IST
Donald Trump (Photo: AP)Donald Trump (Photo: AP)

Highlights

  • 1
    The man who made the claim was 33-year-old Ervin Pettaway
  • 2
    A sweep of the area didn't turn up any explosives
  • 3
    Officials put the White House on lockdown

A 33-year-old man told a uniformed US Secret Service officer near the White House that he'd "dropped explosives" in the area, the agency said on Friday.

The man, Ervin Pettaway, was taken into custody and charged with one count of felony threats.

Officials put the White House - President Donald Trump's official residence - on lockdown for several minutes, and closed nearby streets to pedestrians. The lockdown was removed after about an hour, according to two US news reports.

A sweep of the area didn't turn up any explosives, the Secret Service said.

A Washington Post report said a cellphone belonging to Pettaway was found.

The incident happened 19 minutes after Donald Trump left to begin a tour of Asia, the Associated Press reported.

(With inputs from AP)

ALSO WATCH | US President Trump's Twitter account deactivated for 11 minutes