A 17-year-old male was to appear in Swift Current provincial court Tuesday after the RCMP found an improvised explosive device (IED) in his home.
According to a media release from the RCMP, officers early Tuesday were conducting a condition check on the teen, who was on probation due to a previous conviction for possession of a weapon dangerous to the public – a pipe bomb.
When the officers arrived at the teen’s home, they discovered an IED, other weapons and a small amount of crystal meth. The IED subsequently was destroyed by the RCMP.
The youth wasn’t at home at the time of the check, but he was arrested after returning to his house later Tuesday morning. The Swift Current Police Dog Service Section helped with the arrest.
The youth is facing three charges of failing to comply with a sentence or disposition and one charge each of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, making/possessing explosives, and possession of methamphetamine.
He can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Swift Current RCMP Staff Sgt. Gary Hodges said this is the second time the teenager has been caught making an IED; the June 2018 incident, for which he was charged and convicted, was his first.
In that case, he left a pipe bomb in the shared parking lot of the Swift Current Branch Library and the Clifton Centre, Hodges said. That was on the 400 block of Herbert Street E.