Image Credit: Jessica Wallace
January 13, 2014 - 1:15 PM
POLICE DESTROY, CONFIRM IT WAS INCENDIARY DEVICE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN
KAMLOOPS - Battle Street between fifth and sixth where the RCMP detachment is located was closed from noon until the late afternoon today while police investigated a suspicious package.
RCMP Sgt. Grant Learned said two technicians from the Explosive Demolition Unit in Vancouver were flown in around 3 p.m. to assess the object and determined it was an incendiary device. They used water under high pressure split the device apart and make it safe. Inside they found a liquid accelerant. The origin of the device or how long it had been at the rental property are not known.
Learned said someone who was living with co-tenants found the package in the basement of their home and drove it to the police station to report it. The package was left in the car and police inspected it. A picture was sent to RCMP explosives experts in Vancouver who confirmed they were right to be suspicious.
"Not necessarily explosive in terms of a bomb but something that is capable of creating a fireball," Learned said at the scene this afternoon, adding the experts recommended a safe zone be put up around the vehicle of about 30-50 feet. Nobody was allowed into the detachment, nor could they leave until after bomb technicians did their work.
"Of course, there's a lot of things we don't know about the device and that's why we call in the experts," Learned said.
Buildings weren't evacuated because they were well outside the recommended safe zone, Learned said. Residents in the immediate area were notified, including a local daycare. Police told the daycare not to allow children out.
Learned wouldn't speculate on the origin of the package or the intention of the person who had it. He said people sometimes find strange things while cleaning up their basements and sheds or when helping relatives or neighbours.
The investigation continues.
To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.
—This story was updated at 7:30 p.m. with new police information.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014