Bomb squad opens sesame at military office

A bomb squad investigated a mysterious package mailed to a Kearny Mesa military office Friday and found harmless bottles of sesame oil.

The package arrived at the Military Entrance Processing Station on Ruffin Road south of Ridgehaven Court, San Diego police and fire officials said.

Staff at the office didn’t recognize the name to whom the package was addressed, and became concerned about it, fire spokesman Lee Swanson said. The Metro Arson Strike Team bomb squad were sent to the office about 10:30 a.m.

Swanson said the technicians X-rayed the package and saw that it contained water bottles. They opened it up and discovered that the bottles held sesame oil, not water.

It turned out, Swanson said, that an employee newly assigned to that office had mailed the oil to himself from wherever he had been previously. It wasn’t clear why he did that.

The military processing command is a sort of recruitment office where applicants are screened for eligibility to join the military service, according to its website.

People in the building were not evacuated, police said.