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AN EXPLOSIVES expert says the hand-made bombs that detonated across central Bendigo at the weekend would have been made of readily available materials which could have been lethal.
A Maiden Gully man, 24, will face court today in relation to bombs believed to have exploded near the Golden Vine Hotel on King Street and inside a bin on Hargreaves Street. A third unexploded device was found in Chancery Lane.
University of New South Wales School of Chemistry professor Roger Read said the materials for such bombs were made of common household materials found in the kitchen or laundry.
"The materials that can be used are quite readily available for quite normal purposes and so anyone with a little bit of instruction can put something together that's very dangerous," professor Read said.
"Put them in the wrong hands or in the wrong combination and they become dangerous and potentially lethal.
"It's very difficult to restrict these materials. The police and the authorities do their best to monitor purchases and supply.
"They can’t absolutely prevent the access, nor would we want them to."
Professor Read said a small-scale pipe bomb had the power to blow off a finger or a limb or blind a person.
"They are very dangerous, people need to be aware of that," he said.
"They’re not things to be played with.
"People who play with them don’t understand that."
Professor Read said it was not difficult to make an explosive because they were easy to assemble.
"They’re readily available and there are different ways of igniting or initiating them," he said.
The Maiden Gully man faces eight charges including reckless conduct endangering life, criminal damage, manufacturing an explosive substance and causing an explosion likely to endanger life.