A suspicious package taped to a light pole in a parking lot turned out to be part of a faddish scavenger hunt game, Lincoln police said.A construction worker near the Aldi grocery store at 84th and O streets saw a person place a cylinder-shaped object in the parking lot. The area was cleared, and customers and employees at Aldi went to the far side of the building.The bomb squad was sent to the area to remove the device, which turned out to be a giant pill bottle wrapped in black electrical tape.Investigators were about to take it out to the county to render it safe, when they determined it was part of a popular game called geocaching. In geocaching, people hide objects for others to find using GPS tracking.Inside the tube investigators found trinkets, including a plastic spider.Lincoln fire inspectors said they have found about a half dozen geocaching items in the past year. Some were left in cemeteries and other hard-to-find areas. Officials said it's not illegal, but it causes bomb squads around the country problems because they have to treat all suspicious packages as if they are potentially dangerous.The same treasure hunt forced Omaha police to clear Memorial Park 1 1/2 years ago. That time, the bomb robot blew it up."It was camouflaged," Sgt. Tom Muller said. "It kinda looked like a pipe bomb. Passers-by did the right thing and the uniform patrol did the right thing, because you never know."KETV NewsWatch 7's Dave Roberts signed up to play Geocache and found more than 1,000 items, like the suspicious package found in Lincoln, hidden in Omaha.

A suspicious package taped to a light pole in a parking lot turned out to be part of a faddish scavenger hunt game, Lincoln police said.

A construction worker near the Aldi grocery store at 84th and O streets saw a person place a cylinder-shaped object in the parking lot. The area was cleared, and customers and employees at Aldi went to the far side of the building.


[Video: Geocaching causes scare in Lincoln on Wednesday]

The bomb squad was sent to the area to remove the device, which turned out to be a giant pill bottle wrapped in black electrical tape.

Investigators were about to take it out to the county to render it safe, when they determined it was part of a popular game called geocaching. In geocaching, people hide objects for others to find using GPS tracking.

Inside the tube investigators found trinkets, including a plastic spider.

Lincoln fire inspectors said they have found about a half dozen geocaching items in the past year. Some were left in cemeteries and other hard-to-find areas.

Officials said it's not illegal, but it causes bomb squads around the country problems because they have to treat all suspicious packages as if they are potentially dangerous.

The same treasure hunt forced Omaha police to clear Memorial Park 1 1/2 years ago. That time, the bomb robot blew it up.

"It was camouflaged," Sgt. Tom Muller said. "It kinda looked like a pipe bomb. Passers-by did the right thing and the uniform patrol did the right thing, because you never know."

KETV NewsWatch 7's Dave Roberts signed up to play Geocache and found more than 1,000 items, like the suspicious package found in Lincoln, hidden in Omaha.