El Cajon

The Sheriff’s Department bomb squad disarmed a dynamite time bomb discovered Thursday near an unoccupied store in El Cajon, a department spokesman said.

A 25-year-old employee from a neighboring business spotted the device about 6:30 a.m. and contacted the Sheriff’s Department, explosives investigator Sgt. Connie Grayson said. Grayson said the explosive device was lying outside the former motorcycle parts shop in the 400 block of Vernon Way.

The bomb was made of one stick of Gelmax dynamite and a timing device, he said. The dynamite, a potent variety four times as powerful as standard dynamite, is apparently part of the 800 pounds of explosives stolen from the Gordon Carter Construction Co. of Ramona in March 1988, Grayson said.

The El Cajon incident marks the 17th time Sheriff’s officials have recovered dynamite from the construction company robbery, he said. Grayson estimates that more than 200 pounds of the stolen explosives have yet to be recovered.