A suspicious package that shut down Brunette Avenue for four hours Wednesday was neither a bomb nor a weapon.
It was a hose nozzle used by city of Coquitlam crews to clean out sewer pipes.
Coquitlam RCMP released photos of the device Wednesday, at first calling it a homemade prop.
But a keen-eyed Tri-City News reader and others on social media commented that the item was actually a high-pressure hose nozzle used for cleaning pipes and drains.
“After the photo was published yesterday, we determined that the device is used by the city of Coquitlam to clean out sewer pipes,” said Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Michael McLaughlin, later adding: “Apparently, the device was misplaced and mistakenly ended up on someone’s lawn.”
Wednesday, McLaughlin said the package looked real enough that investigators had to take it seriously and commended the resident who notified Mounties. The item was approximately 30 cm long with fins and a tip that looked like a mortar or explosive, he said.
“These are metal parts,” he said. “It is not difficult to imagine that this could have contained some kind of real charge.”
Brunette Avenue was shut down between Schoolhouse Street and Laurentian Crescent, and nearby apartments were evacuated shortly after 7:15 a.m. when the provincial Explosives Disposal Service was called in to investigate.
That team sent a remote-controlled camera up to the device, which was lying on some grass on the side of the street, and an officer at the scene said police would be pouring water on the package.
By 12:30 p.m., police determined the item was not a danger and people were allowed to return to their homes and traffic resumed moving through the area.
McLaughlin said people should be careful where they leave items that could be mistaken for a bomb.
“This is a reminder for everyone who owns realistic-looking explosives or firearms props, models or similar items,” he said. “You have to be very careful about leaving them in public.”
He added that having the item discarded on the side of the road resulted in “a big inconvenience to anyone who lives or works nearby.”
@gmckennaTC
