Military-Grade C-4 Explosives Found at Historic New York City Cemetery

(Oct. 11) -- A volunteer reported today that a garbage bag full of powerful C-4 explosives had been found at a historic cemetery in New York City, setting off a major police response, officials said.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the bomb squad was sent this morning to the Marble Cemetery on East Second Street in the East Village in lower Manhattan, where police found at least six bricks of C-4, a military-grade explosive often used to rip apart walls.

The plastic explosives were missing the blasting caps needed to trigger an explosion, so the bricks could not have detonated, police said.

"But it's still C-4, so it's being taken very seriously," the New York Daily News quoted a police source as saying.

Kelly said the explosives appeared to be similar to the material used in the July 7, 2005, London transit bombings. However, he said there was no indication terrorism was involved in the cemetery discovery.

The explosives were actually discovered last year when a caretaker doing gardening work dug up the plastic bag, police said. Andrew Knox, who serves on the cemetery's board, said cemetery workers initially thought the bag of explosives was a prop, since the cemetery was once used as a film set.

"It didn't even compute in my mind that they could be real explosives," Knox told the New York Post.

A volunteer at the cemetery stumbled across the bag this weekend and contacted authorities about it today.

Sponsored Links

"We believe it's been there for a significant part of time," Kelly said.

A threatening note found on the windshield of a police car at a nearby police station heightened tensions, but Kelly said the note, which was "signed by Jesus Christ," was likely unrelated.

"The note is a rambling note that makes some reference to Second Street and has some religious statements in it, but investigators see no connection at this time," Kelly said, according to WABC. There were no immediate arrests.

Six members of the Roosevelt family are buried in the cemetery.