A scare of biblical proportions

MELVILLE, N.Y. – The call came in at 12:46 p.m.

Police reported Friday that a woman had left a car window open outside a flea market in Sayville and a suspicious wrapped package was left on her front seat.

She went inside and asked flea market officials for help. They told her to call the police.

The Suffolk County Police Department Emergency Services Section and patrol cars quickly arrived. Stall operators and shoppers left the building to move their cars. Police cordoned off the parking lot and a crowd of onlookers gathered.

After about four hours, bomb technicians used a robot to open the car, according to Amram Attias, 68, the owner of the market.

Then relief – punctuated by laughter – overcame the curious.

“They used their robot and determined it was a Bible,” said Attias. “God bless us.”

A Suffolk County police spokeswoman said the Bible was taken to the department’s property section and logged as evidence.