Labourer Jayden Kelsen initially thought the mysterious package was just a bit of plastic, however once he picked it up and opened it, a number of canisters, wires and other unusual materials fell out of the wrapping, with some marked with the words “explosive” and “detonator” on them.

The incident occurred at a property in North Canterbury, Kaiapoi.

Some of the devices found. Image Credit 1News

Speaking to 1News, the laid back Kiwi explained that “All of a sudden aye just see all these wires on the ground little canisters, so had a closer look at it and it said explosive detonator on it and I was like, woah, ok.. should probably go get someone more experienced and not touch them ay”

“All of a sudden about 3 cop cars turned up and closed off the area.”

Police say the tradesmen was extremely lucky he didn’t strike any of the explosives with his shovel as it very likely would have blown his fingers or hands off.

Understandably he said the incident “Gave me a bit of a fright… started backing away from that site, leave it alone for a little while and let them deal with it.”

Tradesman finds explosives at North Canterbury property, @k_stevenson218 reportshttps://t.co/hwxa0SIJ2x pic.twitter.com/IReKkDYCN6

— 1News (@1NewsNZ) June 22, 2021

Police cordoned off the area and the explosives were removed by the New Zealand Defence Force explosives disposal team.

An investigation is currently underway as to who these devices might belong to and how they got there.

Plenty of excitement on site before 9AM!

(H/T 1News)