Device found in mailbox did not contain explosive materials

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The RCMP’s Explosive Device Unit removed a suspicious device from a mailbox on the Gavelton Road Monday evening, but the device turned out not to be an explosive device as had been originally feared.

An investigation revealed the device was not harmful and did not contain explosive material.

A local resident contacted the RCMP around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 31 to report a suspicious device they had found in their mailbox.

Constable Mathews McGraw of the Yarmouth Rural Detachment says the description provided to police did raise flags about the device.

“The shape of it, the color of the substance involved, the way it was described by the complainant, made us believe it was an explosive device,” he says.

The local RCMP members did not view the device for themselves when they arrived on the scene. Const. McGraw says this was for safety reasons.

“We take precautions with those kinds of calls because it could be disastrous for our members or the general population,” he says, adding explosive devices placed in mailboxes in the Wedgeport area last year (a case in which there have been arrests and charges laid) and recent cases of homemade explosive devices found in mailboxes in the Amherst area also caused the RCMP to adopt a precautionary approach.

A perimeter of about 15 metres was established around the mailbox, and, with the assistance of the Department of Transportation, the RCMP closed off a section of the road until the matter could be dealt with by the RCMP’s Explosive Device Unit.

The scene was cleared around 11:15 p.m.

Although the device was found not to contain explosives, the RCMP’s investigation is continuing.

Meanwhile, Const. McGraw says if any member of the public finds a suspicious item in their mailbox they should immediately contact the RCMP and not go near the mailbox or handle the suspicious item.