Members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from Christchurch were called to Clyde yesterday to safely detonate some power gel found on the riverbank.

Alexandra Police Senior Constable Graham Perkins said a member of the public was out walking their dog on Sunday when they came across the explosive material washed up along Miners Lane.

The area was quickly cordoned off by the Clyde Volunteer Fire Brigade until police arrived at 3pm, and then a call was made to the NZ Defence Force, who drove down on Monday to safely detonate it.

The area was under surveillance all Sunday night with security guards keeping the area safe, until the team could arrive, Graham said.

The power gel was then sandbagged and given an ignition source, before it was detonated from a safe area on the Clyde Bridge, which Snr Const Perkins had the honours of doing using bluetooth technology.

“We tried to keep it low profile and didn’t want to tell everyone we were going to blow something up,” Snr Cons Perkins said.

The explosive power gel would’ve been contained in a box and possibly thrown in the river by someone, and then broken down, before it eventually washed up on shore after the river level was recently lowered.

“It was clear it had been in the water a long time,” he said.

Advice to anyone who found something similar with ‘explosive’ written on it was to, obviously, not touch it, and report it immediately.

“Do not poke it with a stick or kick it,” he said.