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Police said whoever stashed a backpack filled with hand grenades and other explosives in a Southern California ditch may have ties to the military.

The backpack was found Monday in a drainage ditch along the border between Anaheim and Placentia and likely had been there for several months, the Orange County Sheriff's Department reported.

The bomb squad destroyed the backpack at the scene rather than attempt to move it.

Investigators planned to track down whoever left it in the ditch. They noted the backpack was probably placed there intentionally by someone who may have connections to the military.

Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino told the Orange County Register the grenades, black powder and blasting caps were not the sort of items a typical civilian could get their hands on.

Amormino said deputies conducted a thorough search of the canal and found some additional unspecified evidence but would not elaborate.