A crude bomb was discovered at a courier office in the plush Indranagar locality at Bangalore on Tuesday night.

The bomb squad, which rushed to the office of Prakash Air Freight Private Limited, found a crude bomb, along with five packets of gunpowder and some pebbles. According to the police, the pebbles would have acted as pellets once the bomb exploded.

On Tuesday evening, the Bangalore police received a call from one Ramesh, who informed them about the bomb in the courier office. The bomb squad was intimated immediately.

Within minutes of the call, the bomb disposal squad reached the courier office with a dog squad. During their search, a constable reportedly stumbled on a box, which had five small packets, each with 20 grams of gunpowder.

"The packets also had pebbles which could have acted as pellets had the crude bomb exploded," said a police officer.   The material has been sent to the forensic laboratory for further examination.

"Had the bomb exploded, at least five people would have been dead. The intention was to cause panic," a police officer said.

Although the police have no leads about who planted the bomb, they maintain that it was not meant to cause destruction on a large scale.

Reports suggest that the bombs could have been planted in retaliation to the recent arrests of militants Nasir and Asadullah, who were planning terror attacks in Karnataka.

Although the bomb was not attached to any timer, a certain amount of friction or force could have triggered the blast.