Package Raises a Stink at Post Office

District of Columbia police work outside of the Post Office building at Massachusetts and North Capitol Streets, where a suspicious package was found Thursday, June 14, 2007, in Washington. The package, a box with no postage and no mailing address, was emitting a foul odor and was later found to contain two cans of spinach and a dirty diaper. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (Jacquelyn Martin - AP)

WASHINGTON -- A foul-smelling package that led to the evacuation of a post office next to the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum contained two cans of spinach and a dirty diaper, authorities said.

"No wonder it smelled," said Deborah Yackley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service. "I don't know why it was being mailed."

A postal worker alerted police shortly before 11 a.m. after spotting the smelly package sitting on a counter with no one around to claim it, authorities said. The package had no postage and no address.

District of Columbia police bomb technicians X-rayed the package and a hazardous materials team inspected it before determining that it contained nothing dangerous. The evacuation lasted several hours.