PORT HUENEME, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California port was closed for several hours Monday afternoon while authorities investigated a possible terrorist threat on a cargo ship. A dock worker at the Port of Hueneme in Ventura County discovered a threatening message written in the cargo hold of a ship carrying bananas from Guatemala, said Will Berg, the port's marketing director.
Federal authorities said the message was written in English and read: "Nitro + glycerin my gift for G. W. Bush and his Jewish gang."
No nitroglycerine or other explosives were found during a thorough search, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
The message was scrawled in marker on a metal pillar in the ship.
Authorities were investigating, and divers were called in to inspect surrounding waters.
About 20 people were evacuated from the 30,000-ton refrigerated vessel the Wild Lotus, which arrived from the Port of Quetzal in Guatemala on Sunday evening, officials said.
The 135-acre port is the only deep-ocean port between Los Angeles and San Francisco, though it handles far less cargo than the Los Angeles- Long Beach complex, the nation's largest harbor.
It is the top seaport in the United States for citrus exports and ranks in the top 10 in the country for imports of automobiles and bananas, according to the port's Web site.
