By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

PARIS – Police are still trying to figure out how a fake bomb ended up in Paris Selectman Bruce Hanson’s newspaper tube early Friday morning.

“The pace (of the investigation) could be slow,” Maine State Police Sgt. Walter Grzyb said Monday.

Related evidence, including the bomb-like device that was discovered in Hanson’s newspaper tube at 40 Brett Hill Road, is at or on its way to a state police crime lab, Grzyb said. Interviews still are being conducted.

“We’re getting a lot of feedback from the community, which has been helpful, so we’re very optimistic we’ll be able to find out why this was done,” Grzyb said.

Hanson found what he believed was a bomb in his newspaper tube when he went to get his daily paper about 8:30 a.m. Friday, according to police. Hanson called the Paris Police Department, and the Paris police called the state police once they verified the device looked like a bomb.

A stretch of Brett Hill Road was closed to traffic for hours as a bomb squad retrieved and dismantled the device with a robot, and state police gathered evidence at the scene.

It was later announced that the device was “nonexplosive.”

Grzyb has said police will be looking at whether Hanson’s position as a selectman has anything to do with the incident.