The army steps in to examine the pipe-like objects found in a Howrah station godown on Friday. Picture by Amit Datta

Seven pipe-like objects found in an unclaimed crate at Howrah station spread panic among passengers on Friday morning. Though the objects were found in godown NJ7 on Thursday night, word spread around 8.30am on Friday that they were bombs planted by terrorists. As a result, passengers were in a rush to leave the station.

Police examined the consignment and said the objects were “fuses of rocket launchers” used only by the army. Army officers later examined the objects and said they were mountaineering gear.

An army spokesperson said: “We call these line explosive triggers. They are similar to spear guns and are used to cross crevasses. Such guns contain a small amount of explosive that shoots the spear-end of the rope inside to the other side of a crevasse. The spear gets attached to the mountain wall, enabling climbers to get to the other side. These are normally made in Europe. This has nothing to do with the army and we have only been entrusted with the task of defusing them.”

A clerk had opened the crate while making a list of unclaimed articles at the station to be auctioned on Friday. Since he had not seen anything like them, he informed his superiors, who informed the Government Reserve Police. They requested the CID to send its bomb disposal squad.

The members of the squad stated that the objects were not bombs but could not say what they were.

No one knows who the consignment was for, since there is no address on the crate. The police said it arrived from Bhavnagar, in Gujarat, on May 26.

Pradip Kumar Sanyal, the superintendent of railway police, said: “Maybe the address label has come off. But it is strange that no one has claimed the crate.”