US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin after meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin, Germany, March 16, 2017. Photo: Reuters

 

A gift-wrapped package addressed to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin?s home in a posh Los Angeles neighbourhood that was suspected of being a bomb was instead filled with horse manure, police told local media.

The package was found Saturday evening in a next-door neighbour?s driveway in Bel Air, the Los Angeles Police Department told the Los Angeles Times and KNBC television, the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles. The package also included a Christmas card with negative comments about President Donald Trump and the new US tax law signed by Trump last week.

Reuters could not reach LAPD officials for comment on Sunday.

An LAPD bomb squad X-rayed the package before opening it and found the horse manure inside, police told local media. Aerial footage from KNBC showed officers investigating a large box in wrapping paper, then dumping a large amount of what they later identified as the manure and opening the card that was included inside.

Mnuchin, who KNBC said was not home when the package was discovered, is a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive and Hollywood film financier.

A road in Bel Air was closed for about two hours, KNBC reported.

The US Secret Service is also investigating the incident, according to the TV station.