HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- Federal agents said four bomb threats called in Wednesday to local stores were "copycat" crimes and not connected to a series of threats called in to stores in 11 states.

Five people were taken into custody Wednesday night after a telephone used to call in a threat to a Wal-Mart store was traced to an east Hutchinson home where arrests were made. Two people were jailed on warrants and three others were being questioned about the bomb threats, said police Lt. Lee Fesler.

The bomb threats Wednesday -- to a Wal-Mart and three Dillons stores -- were made between 11 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., police said, but no bombs were found.

"I've been told that everything today was 'copycat'," FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said Wednesday.

All four stores Wednesday were evacuated without incident. The Dillons stores opened after about two hours, while the Wal-Mart was closed for about an hour while police searched.

That's in contrast to Tuesday, when a threat at a Dillons in north Hutchinson held 46 employees and 64 customers, some of whom had taken off their clothes, hostage inside the store for 90 minutes.

The callers Wednesday did not demand money in exchange for the hostages' freedom, Lanza said, but simply said there was a bomb in the buildings.

"It's just some idiot messing around with people's lives," said Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt.

He said Hutchinson residents should not be afraid to go grocery shopping.

"There is no legitimate concern for people's safety," Heitschmidt said.

"Over the last several days, we've seen extensive efforts across the country to perpetrate this scam," said Monte Strait, who is the director of the FBI office in Kansas City.

In Newport, R.I., on Tuesday a bomb threat caused the evacuation of a Wal-Mart and led employees to wire $10,000 to the caller. FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said the incident appeared related to a plot in recent days targeting banks and stores near Phoenix, Detroit, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.

Kolko said Wednesday that the bureau was looking into whether the calls were being placed from overseas and was compiling reports from local police departments to look for similarities between the cases.

The caller to the Hutchinson store where more than 100 people were held for 90 minutes appeared to have visual access to the store. Law enforcement officials were investigating whether the caller was out of state and may have hacked into the store's security system.

"If they can access the Internet, they can get to anything," said Heitschmidt. "Anyone in the whole world could have access, if that's what really happened."

The caller demanded the female hostages take off their clothes and after 20 minutes made a similar demand of the males.

Jim Peterson, one of the hostages, said some complied out of fear.

"A lot of women were really embarrassed being exposed," said Walter Merian, another hostage. "It already was scary enough without adding the embarrassment."

The manager pleaded with the caller not to harm anyone in the store, Peterson said.

"He was just beside himself," Peterson said. "Everyone was really scared. We didn't know if there was a bomb."

No bomb was found.

Dillons spokesman Sheila Lowrie said the company brought counselors to the scene.

"We're sorry the employees and the customers had to go through this," Lowrie said

"If you get a call like this, indicating there is a threatened bomb in your facility, and unless you wire funds immediately that the bomb will go off, we suggest that you contact your local police department and the FBI immediately," Strait said.