Miyagi Prefectural Police defused a makeshift bomb Wednesday that was found outside a police station in the city of Furukawa, Miyagi Prefecture, the previous evening.
The device -- placed inside a white plastic shopping bag -- was found in bamboo shrubbery outside the main entrance of the police station at around 9:50 p.m. Tuesday.
Police searched the area after a visitor told them a man had tossed an object into the shrubs and fled. The bag contained sticks of dynamite and a timing device made by connecting an electric battery and a clock with lead wire.
The man who fled was described as being in his 40s or 50s, wearing a black shirt, gray slacks and a black cap.
Nearby residents were evacuated for about an hour shortly after midnight as a police bomb squad worked on the explosive, which was moved to the station parking lot for disposal.
It was Furukawa's third incident involving explosives this month.
On Oct. 8, a bomb went off near the entrance of a pachinko parlor, shattering glass. The next day, a bomb exploded at an unmanned consumer finance firm office, both located within a 1-km radius of Furukawa Police Station.
Police are investigating whether the incidents are connected and checking to see if dynamite has gone missing from any construction sites.
