Another bomb almost goes off, fault saves all

Late on Monday night, the bus conductor found a bag during a routine check at SEEPZ bus depot and informed the police. For the next 16 hours, police was at work, when finally it was carefully removed and placed amid sacks of sand.

A team of BDDS officers managed to disable the timer of the device at night but stayed on guard until the NSG experts arrived by afternoon today. ‘‘We were informed that the NSG officials will be visiting the blast site at Ghatkopar and will then come here,’’ said Senior Police Inspector (BDDS) J.L. Khandagle. Two fire engines and a couple of police vans had stood on guard.

‘‘We are preparing ourselves, just in case there’s an explosion. We should be ready for any eventuality,’’ a fire officer said, as he helped his team lay the water hose.

The officials described the device as a high-intensity gelatin-based explosive. It had 14 gelatin sticks, an electric detonator and an alarm clock serving as timer. ‘‘There was a fault with the device,’’ Khandagle said, ‘‘a wire in the circuit gave way and the timer stopped functioning. That is why the explosive did not go off.’’ An NSG official said the device was certainly not a crude one, adding that its origins was yet to be analysed.