The scare halted traffic in both directions for about 20 minutes today while the specialized services division (SSD) worked to remove what appeared to be a pipe bomb found on to the right of the eastbound lanes.

Traffic backed up today on the H-1/Moanalua area of the freeway after police reopened lanes, which were closed to remove what appeared to be a pipe bomb. Chopper 8 • Special to The Honolulu Advertiser

A passerby alerted police at about 8:19 a.m. that a cylindrical object about a foot long and an inch in diameter was on the roadside just before the Middle Street overpass, Miller said.

The bomb squad was summoned at about 9 a.m., he said. Police at first shut down the two right lanes on the eastbound side of the freeway near the overpass during the initial investigation.

At about 10 a.m., however, all lanes were closed, near Middle Street on the eastbound side and near the Likelike Highway offramp on the westbound side, while SSD officers removed the device.

Miller said the officers employed the new $100,000 robot to pick up the device while they stood about 150 feet away. The wheeled robot retrieved the PVC pipe capped at both ends and put it in a “total containment vessel” and removed it from the container at the range, he said.

Officers then used a gun shooting non-explosive projectiles to crack open the pipe, he said, and found it filled with the now-damaged drill bits.

The owner has not contacted police to retrieve the container, Miller said.

"We would give them back," he said, "although I don't think they'll be of much use to him."