Navy bomb disposal squad to defuse WWII shell found at Mumbai Harbour

A World War-II shell, packed with 45 kg of explosives found at the Mumbai Harbour during dredging operations recently, has been shifted to a naval station in Raigad district to safely defuse it, police said today. As the city police do not have the expertise to defuse the shell, it was stored in an isolated location in the Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) premises after it was located off Cross Islands 10 days ago. “After the paper work, a team of Naval Armament Depot came to the place where the shell was kept and took it to the Naval station in Karanja in Raigad district a few days ago,” Pandurang Dhoke, senior inspector at Yellow Gate police station, said. [caption id=“attachment_119147” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”] [/caption]According to sources, the Naval team wearing bomb-proof suits used a special vehicle to transport the shell to Karanja. The metal case is approximately 53cm long and 18cm wide. On October 20, labourers of the Jaisu Shipping Company were operating a dredger near Cross Islands when they stumbled upon the shell after their boat suddenly stopped functioning. “When labourers checked, they saw the large cylinder-shaped metal that was obstructing the dredger. They alerted the port authorities who in turn alerted us,” a police official said. The city police’s Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad tried to defuse it after dogs sniffed the presence of explosive material but later called in the navy after it realised it did not have the necessary expertise to dismantle such a shell.