Police recovered a bomb concealed inside a pressure cooker and wrapped in black adhesive tape from a locked bag left on a bench outside a grocery shop in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, today.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Bomb Disposal Unit later destroyed the device safely in a controlled explosion, police said.

The bomb was taken to an open field in Amir Sarkar Housing, where it was destroyed, said Ashulia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Tarikul Islam.

According to the officer-in-charge, locals spotted an unattended bag on a bench outside Joyi General Store, owned by Hridoy Chakma, in the Khejur Bagan area yesterday evening.

The OC said a man, believed to be aged between 30-35 years, came to the shop last evening intending to buy soft drink. He handed the shopkeeper a Tk 500 note but left after being told that no change was available. Before leaving, he placed the locked bag on the bench.

The shopkeeper initially assumed the man had left the bag behind by mistake and would return to collect it. When he failed to return after some time, the shopkeeper alerted nearby residents. Suspicious, several locals broke the lock and opened the bag, finding a pressure cooker wrapped in black adhesive tape. They then informed police, the officer-in-charge added.

OC Tarikul said police are trying to identify the man who left the bag at the shop. CCTV footage from the surrounding area is being collected and analysed as part of the investigation.

"The bomb was made with bearing balls and an explosive chemical compound. It was very powerful," a police officer from the DMP Bomb Disposal Unit, who was present during the controlled explosion, told The Daily Star.

Earlier, on July 24, an improvised explosive device (IED) was found concealed inside an umbrella near Motijheel Metro Rail Station. It was later neutralised in a controlled explosion by the DMP Bomb Disposal Unit.