The US Secret Service detained a male suspect carrying a package and making "suspicious comments" near the White House on Tuesday, according to an official who said he was taken into custody and explosives experts were deployed.
A Secret Service official said the man had approached uniformed officers near 15th and Pennsylvania at around 10:15 am, a block from the White House. The man was separated from the package and detained in a police vehicle, a security perimeter was established and "the package is now in Secret Service custody," the official said, asking not to be named.
Earlier, authorities temporarily closed roads near the White House after the discovery of a "suspicious package".
The Secret Service, which protects the president, his family and other top officials and visiting dignitaries, said that officers had established a perimeter, and moved pedestrians outside the White House a safe distance away, as a precaution.
The package appeared to have been found on the north side of the grounds, with some television crews moved off the White House north lawn.
