No laughs over explosion prank | Coolum News | Local News in Coolum

Gary Young inspects the plastic-bag holder blown up at Stumers Creek on Monday.

Mike Garry

A dangerous soda siphon bomb has been use to blow apart two plastic-bag receptacles at Stumers Creek.

Coolum man Gary Young noticed the dog-poo bag dispensers in pieces on Tuesday morning at one of the beach cuttings along Stumers Creek Road and at the main car park.

Part of a metal soda siphon bulb wrapped in foil and wire was found near the smashed dispenser at the beach access.

Mr Young, who walks his dogs near Stumers Creek twice a day, said the shrapnel from the bombs could be deadly.

“That would cut you to pieces if that was to hit you,” he said.

“If somebody walked through this track ... they may not have survived.”

Mr Young said detonating a dangerous explosive in public was a mindless act.

“I can’t understand their mentality,” he said.

“Are they growing up to be young terrorists? What’s the next step – a bit of C-4 (plastic explosive) or something like that?”

“It’s been tough enough to get these dispensers in the first place, let alone to have them destroyed by some brainless idiot.”

A Coolum police spokesman said the incidents were worrying because Stumers Creek was a popular spot for families and people walking their dogs.

“When they go off they send shrapnel out,” he said.

“Anyone in close proximity at the time they go off – certainly if someone was walking past – they face a very real danger of copping a bit of shrapnel.

“And, obviously, depending on where they’re hit, the danger’s elevated, particularly around the eyes or temple.”

Soda siphon bulbs are small metal canisters containing about 10 cubic centimetres of carbon dioxide under pressure.

The manufacture and use of soda siphon bombs contravenes the Explosive Act 1999.

Anyone with information should call Coolum police on 5440 2777.