Mortar shells found near Burnaby school to be defused by military Special

Military explosives experts from CFB Esquimalt will defuse two mortar shells found near a Burnaby Secondary School, RCMP said. The army team will arrive Thursday morning. The origin of the shells remains unclear.

BURNABY, B.C. - (Update) A team of military ordnance experts from CFB Esquimalt will defuse two mortar shells found near a high school in Burnaby, B.C. RCMP said they took digital photos of the two shells and relayed them to RCMP's explosive disposal team which in turn passed them on to the army. Alpha Secondary School and a number of homes were evacuated earlier Wednesday but residents have been told the army thinks there is no danger at this point. RCMP said the army assured the police that the "current configuration" of the shells poses no immediate danger. The military team is expected to deal with the two shells on Thursday morning. Police will remain at the scene overnight to guard the explosives but school will resume on time on Thursday. "We don't know at this point where they came from, as it happens people often collect these items and so we don't know how old they are or where they came from," said Cpl. Ted De Jager who was at the scene of the incident. "Right now we have just cordoned off the immediate area, again we don't have the expertise to deal with this and a citizen reported these to us," he said earlier. "They appear to be some sort of military ordinance. Earlier, police said they had cordoned off a large area and ordered the school and several homes evacuated. "Alpha Secondary school was close enough so we decided out of precaution to evacuate them and we have evacuated some homes in the vicinity of the shells," he said in an interview. "Even if we had a book we couldn't identify these mortar shells because there are so many type out there and we don't have the expertise," he added.