Over the weekend, Oct. 16, cleaning staff at a safe injection site on the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver made a shocking discovery.
Two replica pipe bombs were found inside the toilets at the safe injection site near Pender and Abbott street.
Staff believed they were imitation bombs and immediately turned them over to police.
“Pipe bombs are extremely dangerous. They can eject pieces of shrapnel in all directions causing serious injuries or death,” says Constable Tania Visintin.
“At a glance, replica pipe bombs can appear very real. As such, we take these calls very seriously and must investigate them thoroughly.”
When the Vancouver Police Department’s Bomb Technician arrived, they identified the bombs as fake and safely destroyed the devices.
“We don’t want to instill fear, but we want the public to be vigilant,” adds Constable Visintin. “If you see something suspicious, please call the police. Don’t handle the suspicious object yourself.”
The suspect is still outstanding and the file remains under investigation.
These calls have not been uncommon for the VPD, as they have been dealing with multiple bomb threats over the past month and have been called to an additional three incidents.
On Oct. 17, a threat was emailed to a cybersecurity company near Homer and Robson streets, which was concluded to be a hoax.
“In the past week, about 110 hours were spent investigating these calls,” says Constable Visintin. “This includes resources from patrol, our Emergency Response Section and our investigative section.”
