Cops halted a Manhattan subway and examined passengers carrying bottled water and other drinks yesterday after a concerned tipster reported seeing a bottle of suspicious liquid on the No.6 train, police and witnesses said.The startling spot check was not part of a wider NYPD counterterrorism initiative and had no connection to the thwarted British terror plot to use liquid explosives to blow up passenger jets, authorities said. It was a routine response to a suspicious package - but several passengers were still alarmed.
"This is a new level of fear, watching for people carrying drinks on the subway," said Wallis Post, 25, of Manhattan, who was on the train searched by cops at the 51st St. station and again at Grand Central Terminal.
Cops halted the subway about 9 a.m. shortly after a tipster reported seeing a suspicious bottle of liquid on the train at 125th St., police said. "Is anyone carrying a liquid?" a uniformed cop asked after boarding the train with another officer at 51st St., according to Post and another passenger.
Another cop then said into her hand-held radio: "We're looking for the high alert," prompting a few frightened passengers to get off the train, the witnesses said. As the cops held the train, a woman in a gym outfit held up a Poland Spring water bottle with red juice inside it and told them, "I have this." The cops asked if the liquid had spilled on anything and then took it, Post said.
After a five-minute delay, the train was allowed to depart the station, but when it rolled into Grand Central another cop got on and asked: "Has anyone seen a liquid?" Cops again searched the train before deciding there was no threat, Post said.