Japanese World War II Explosive Found in St. Pete Home

A St. Petersburg man came across a real blast from the past while examining World War II memorabilia that had come into his possession.

While checking out the antique items, the man noticed something that caught his attention as being a little odd, the St. Petersburg Police Department reported.

“He found (a device) which appeared to be potentially explosive in nature,” an email from the agency to media stated.

Not quite sure what the item was, the man contacted a relative with some expertise in military ordinance. When that relative suggested the item might indeed be explosive, the man called in police.

Officers responded to the man’s home in the 2200 block of 45th Avenue North late Thursday evening. They quickly realized, the item was indeed military in nature.

Rather than chance it, St. Pete officers called on the Tampa Bomb Squad and the MacDill Air Force Base Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team for some help.

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“Experts who examined the device advised that it appears to have been part of a larger World War II era Japanese made explosive ordnance, possibly a detonator of some sort,” police wrote in an email to media. The item was ultimately identified as a Type 97 Japanese Land Bomb Gaine.

MacDill’s EOD team removed the fuse and intended to destroy it as a precaution, police noted.

Criminal charges are not anticipated. It is unclear just how the original owner of the device came to be in possession of it.

This is the second time in a week a World War II-era explosive has been found in the St. Petersburg area. On Sunday, the EOD was called out to St. Pete Beach to explode a barnacle-encrusted M122 Photoflash bomb found by a person walking near the shoreline. The bomb in that case was detonated on the beach with a crowd of onlookers gathered.

Photos courtesy of the St. Petersburg Police Department