Discovery of a small arsenal of explosives and firearms in one unit of a highrise apartment in Burnaby, B.C., forced residents from their suites for several hours Monday night.
Police were conducting a search warrant in the 11th floor unit in the 39-storey building in the 4200-block of Grange St. when dynamite and several small bombs were found.
"The IEDs were essentially small, homemade bombs," RCMP Insp. Tim Shields told radio station CKNW.
"I don't know exactly how many there were, or how dangerous theoretically they were, they were fairly small in size, but there were numerous IEDs. They had to be removed by the explosives disposal unit," he said.Burnaby highrise evacuation ends as suite cleared of dynamite, home-made bombs
Shields said the small bombs were found after explosives experts had removed about 10 sticks of old, crystallized dynamite from the suite.
The dynamite was taken to nearby Central Park where it was safely burned.
In Pictures: Explosives investgation in Burnaby
Officers were not expecting to find the explosives when they entered the suite to check for drugs.
"It seems like it was being used as a cocaine packaging and distribution centre," said Shields.
There were multiple kilos of cocaine found inside the unit, many, many thousands of dollars of cash, numerous guns, and of course, the dynamite."
Residents were allowed to return to their apartments several hours after the evacuation began, once all the dangerous items had been removed from the unit.
No arrests were made Monday and Shields said the investigation was continuing.
