A man using a metal detector found a box of explosives buried in a forest on the North Shore of Massachusetts on Thursday, authorities said.
Officers were called to a state-owned forest in Rowley near the Newbury town line around 2:30 p.m. after a metal detector-wielding man uncovered a box loaded with TNT and plastic explosives buried in an area off of Route 1, according to Acting Rowley Police Chief Stephen May.
May noted that the box and the explosives “appeared to have been in the ground for an undetermined number of years.”
The Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad was called to the scene and crews safely destroyed the explosives with a series of three blasts, according to May.
May said that no evacuations were ordered because the explosives were found in a remote part of town far away from homes and businesses.
The discovery won’t be investigated further due to the apparent age of the explosives and the time they had been buried.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI also responded to the scene.