Two people facing charges after explosives found in central Edmonton apartment suite

EDMONTON- Two people are facing charges after explosives were found inside an apartment northeast of downtown Friday afternoon.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) was called to an apartment at 88th Street and Jasper Avenue, shortly after 3:30p.m., after receiving a call that a gun had been pointed at a person inside one of the suites.

Upon arrival, police contained the suite and cleared the residence as a safety precaution.

“Upon clearing the residence we found, just in plain view, a 12-gauge shotgun. We also found a quantity of an industrial explosive,” explained Staff Sergeant Malcolm Allan with EPS.

Allan says a search warrant was obtained and bomb explosives technicians were called in.

“They went into the suite, rendered the explosives safe, safe to handle, and they removed them from the apartment suite,” said Allan.

Allan says a significant amount of the explosive was found inside the suite.

“We deal with a fair number of bomb related calls that turn out to be non-explosive related. So, it’s fairly uncommon that we actually come across actual explosive, certainly of this quantity. If they were actually detonated it would have done some major, major damage.”

As a result, two people are now facing charges of possessing and pointing a firearm, “and of course the possession of these explosives, which outside of a commercial industrial context are illegal to possess,” said Allan.

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