Dynamite Discovery: – Unpleasant

On Friday morning, dynamite was found in the basement of a block of flats in Disen, north of the capital. The apartment block was evacuated, and at 3:45 p.m. the police squad entered the basement to investigate the explosives.

Half an hour later, the Dagbladet photographer on the scene says the bomb squad has pulled out the dynamite, and the police task leader says they have finished on the spot.

John Iversen has lived in the apartment block with his wife Grethe for almost 36 years. He was the one who found the dynamite, the wife tells Dagbladet.

Passports, driver’s licenses and check stubs found

– He came over and said “Look what I found in the basement.” Had to clean a ventilation shaft because there were a lot of leaves and stuff in there. Then he came up with a belly with passports, driver’s licenses, check stubs and stuff. He then said he had found a bag that he thought looked like dynamite, says Grethe Iversen.

John also says that the air hatch was full of leaves.

– Then I cleaned the sheets. Under the sheets were many passports, driver’s licenses, and check stubs. And behind him was dynamite.

– Did you see immediately that it was dynamite?

– Not before he picked up the bag, he says, and goes on to say that he put it away.

– I was not afraid, but I realized that there is nothing I should take with me.

– Disgusting

The couple contacted a relative who works in the police, who also reported the discovery.

– The rest see it now, says John Iversen and refers to the police.

– We thought maybe two policemen would come looking for this. Suddenly, we see the whole bomb squad coming and they told us to get out. It really is kind of disgusting to know that it must have been there for quite some time. You never know what might happen, says Grethe Iversen.

Evacuated

Earlier this afternoon, Operations Manager Magne Olsvoll in the Oslo Police District informed NTB that the police bomb squad will decide what happens next.

“We have several patrols up there that have cordoned off the area so that no one can enter the basement where this dynamite is,” he said.

Dynamite may have been in the basement for a long time.

– We do not know who placed it there, or when it was placed there. But age doesn’t always make explosives less dangerous. There is not a large number, but it is enough that we have chosen to take precautions, Olsvoll said.

The block that has been evacuated is four stories high. A total of 25 people have been evacuated. People have been offered a stay in an assembly hall in the neighborhood.

Police were notified of the discovery of dynamite shortly before 1:30 p.m.