A can that looked suspiciously like a bomb, discovered Wednesday evening on property near Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga, was safely retrieved and will be examined by an FBI laboratory, according to airport officials.

At about 6:30 p.m., a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority employee mowing grass off Roxborough Avenue saw a suspicious can leaning against a tree, according to C. Douglas Hartmayer, NFTA spokesman.

"Based on his training. . . . he contacted NFTA police," Hartmayer said.

An NFTA police bomb-sniffing dog "had a slight reaction to the device," Hartmayer said, leading authorities to summon the Weapons and Ordnance Unit of the Erie County Sheriff's Office.

Hartmayer said the unit sent a robot to investigate the device -- that appeared to be a gun-metal gray can, slightly larger than a soup can, with protruding yellow wires. It also had what appeared to be a timer as well as a power source.

Sheriff's officials were able to pick up the suspicious item and place it into an explosive-proof container, which was sealed and removed to a safe location by federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI.

"It was treated very seriously," Hartmayer said.

FBI laboratory technicians will study the device and attempt to obtain the fingerprints of its maker, Hartmayer said.

Hartmayer said airport authorities had received no threats of an explosive device.

He credited the employee mowing the lawn for his astute observation and subsequent following of procedure that led to the seizure of the device without incident.

The device was discovered in a grassy area off Roxborough near Genesee Street -- not within the gates of the airport itself. Navigation lights leading planes to the airport are in the vicinity, Hartmayer said.

No flights were affected, and no evacuations were necessary, Hartmayer said.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Cheektowaga police assisted the investigation.

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