Bag of Explosives Found Under California Bridge

Backpack contained 6 grenades, and more
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 10, 2012 12:44 AM CDT
Bag of Explosives Found Under Calif. Bridge
A member of the Orange County Sheriff's bomb squad handles some of the contents of the suspicious backpack.   (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Joshua Sudock)

Cops in Orange County, California, are trying to find a person who left a backpack full of military-grade explosives in a drainage ditch under a highway bridge in Placentia. Local businesses were evacuated while the bomb squad destroyed the backpack—which contained six grenades along with other explosives and blasting caps—inside a containment vessel, the Orange County Register reports.

Investigators say the explosives, which could have caused major structural damage to the bridge, had been in the ditch for several months, becoming increasingly volatile, and appear to have been placed there by somebody with a good knowledge of explosives. (More explosives stories.)

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