Coast Guard seizes blasting caps aboard ship in Quezon province

Coast Guard authorities found and seized half a sack of blasting caps aboard a passenger ship during a pre-departure inspection in Quezon province Saturday night. Bombo Radyo reported Sunday that the Coast Guard found the blasting caps dumped in a garbage bin of MV Blue Water Princess 2, which was to leave for Masbate province at 7 p.m. Investigation showed Coast Guard K-9 units trained to sniff out explosives detected the blasting caps and alerted their handlers. A separate report quoted regional Coast Guard Commander Gregorio Adel Jr. as saying that the boat was docked at a port in Lucena City. The explosives could have been abandoned by a range of suspects, including Muslim militants and anti-government groups that want to disrupt President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation address on Monday, he said. Quezon is one of the provinces comprising the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) Region, or Region IV-A. - GMANews.TV, with a report from AP.