'Suspicious vehicle' shuts down N.J. Turnpike

A 33-mile stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and Mount Laurel was closed last night for nearly four hours - inconveniencing thousands of drivers - after state troopers pulled over what they described as "a suspicious vehicle."

Sgt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman, said the shutdown began about 6:15 p.m., when a driver of a southbound vehicle was taken into custody in Woodbury Heights. Police stopped the vehicle after they got a report of a man in a black Acura driving with a bomb in his car.

The driver, a 27-year-old who was not identified because he had not been charged, was taken to the Moorestown station. Jones said that a bomb unit was checking out the car and that FBI agents were also en route.

During the closure, traffic was diverted from the turnpike onto I-295, which was jammed. Police began reopening the turnpike shortly before 10.

- Tom Infield and Sam Wood