RCMP bomb disposal team called to Courtenay

Members of an RCMP bomb disposal unit successfully dealt with an unusual situation in Courtenay Monday evening.

According to Cpl. Daryl Swan of the Comox Valley RCMP, a woman was cleaning out a storage unit and had placed the belongings in her vehicle. It wasn’t until they were inside the car she noticed a box labelled "high grade explosives."

"She brought that down to the detachment out of concern and then brought it to an open area," Swan said.

The woman's vehicle is shown. (CTV News)That area was Lewis Park, where police cordoned off the vehicle in the afternoon and called an explosives team from Vancouver.

"The bomb disposal guys with RCMP attended and discovered it was an open package with some low-grade firework-type items that had been stuffed inside of there," said Swan.

The team arrived shortly after 9 p.m. and carefully looked at the items and removed them from the vehicle.

"The steps that she took, she was very concerned, and she brought her vehicle to an open area and we would always recommend that people do that," said Swan.

"Treat it as the worst-case scenario because we’d hate to see someone treat it lighter and then have an incident happen," he said. "Kudos to her, she made some very good choices."

Swan says the items will be destroyed by the disposal team. 

Police are pictured in Courtenay after a woman found a box labelled "explosive." (CTV News)