NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – Police here released two men five hours after they were detained because the Massachusetts-registered car they were driving raised suspicions on a day authorities were on a manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect.

“We found some packages. They were searched and X-rayed by the state police’s bomb disposal team,” Chief Bryan DalPotro told a press conference at 1 p.m.

A bomb-squad robot removed the packages from the car, reportedly a black Nissan.

The search found only papers and personal belongings, DalPotro said.

The men were released, facing only the two traffic violations that prompted a cop on Interstate 190 to pull them over in the first place, early Friday morning.

Will Tompkins, who owns a pharmacy near where the car was pulled over, said when he arrived for work police told him to shut down his business while they investigated the car.

As the Niagara Falls investigation was unfolding, the manhunt for one of the Boston Marathon bombers was in the news and on the minds of people in the area.

“I’m listening to (Niagara Falls police) and how they’re handling it. It doesn’t seem like it’s that serious, but at this stage, with what has been going on in Massachusetts, it’s better to be safe than sorry,” pharmacy employee Chris Pafquantino said.

Contrary to an early, unconfirmed report, the two men who were detained aren't Russian nationals, police said.