Austrian authorities say the explosives found earlier this month in the backpack of a Bosnian man who tried to enter the U.S. Embassy in Vienna could not have gone off.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Rudolf Gollia, told reporters Friday that munitions experts examined the explosives and determined that the device was not assembled in such a way that it could explode.
On October 1, Austrian police arrested a Bosnian man identified as Asim C., for allegedly trying to enter the U.S. Embassy with a backpack containing the explosives, hand grenades, nails and screws. He was apprehended after setting of a metal detector at the entrance to the embassy and is still in custody.
Police say he has been in psychiatric care in the past.
Another suspect arrested in the case on the same day has since been released without charge. Both men are natives of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.