No booby traps found at Oregon refuge, FBI says

BURNS, Ore. – The FBI says it hasn’t found any rigged explosives or booby traps at the national wildlife refuge in Oregon that had been seized by an armed group.

Authorities allowed a group of reporters to get closer to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Friday, a day after the last four occupiers surrendered. The tour stopped short of the refuge itself.

The occupiers had blockaded the road near the property with a government-owned heavy front-end loader and two pickup trucks. A group of tents and pickup trucks was clustered far beyond the barrier.

Larry Karl, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland division, says the holdouts spent most of their time near the tents.

He says investigators hoped to finish the safety sweep of the buildings and begin processing evidence Friday.