Workers dig up ammunition depot

About 2000 artillery shells have been dug up at a construction site in Jilin city in Northeast China's Jilin province, Jilin Evening News reported. 

According to the newspaper, a construction crew digging an underpass on Feiyue Road in Jilin on Friday first discovered grenades and guns and in the following days unearthed more than 2000 artillery shells.

Police were dispatched to the scene and said the munitions would be packed in boxes and moved to a safe site to be destroyed. 

"A SWAT team will provide an escort during the transportation to ensure they arrive safely," the police said on Tuesday. 

Residents said the construction site on Feiyue Road was once an ammunition depot. 

According to records, from 1935 to 1936, the Japanese army stationed two secret units in Manchu state for germ warfare. One of them was the No 100 bacteria unit in Jilin, which mainly conducted research and bred infectious bacteria and plant pathogens. 

"The No 100 bacteria unit did not have an armory, but it was protected by other armed troops, so it's possible an ammunition depot would exist near Feiyue Road," said a researcher named Wang at Changchun Puppet Manchurian Palace Museum in the provincial capital.