Nanaimo RCMP say it was the right call to evacuate people from an area of Discontent City yesterday, with explosive materials inside a sharps container.
RCMP’s Explosives Disposal Unit came to the homeless camp Friday night, examined the item found and removed it safely from the encampment, said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman.
He said the items that caused the concern were parts for commercial fireworks, “which are quite volatile.”
The resident at tent city who located the materials placed them in an empty sharps container, O’Brien said.
“So EDU has advised that if in fact it was lit, because there was a fuse inside, it could have caused significant harm because of the shrapnel from the sharps container,” he said. “Nothing malicious; they just didn’t realize.”
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Some residents were evacuated to the New Hope Centre, not the conference centre as police initially reported.
“EDU were the ones to advise to empty that portion of the encampment, because how it was described to them, it posed a significant risk to the public if there was an ignition source,” O’Brien said.
He said the investigation is continuing and “everything is back to normal” at the camp.
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