HE would have never guessed what they found barely 1 metre outside his house and under his garden wall.

Buried in 1.2m of soil outside Mr Mohamed Fauzi's terrace house were more than 20 pieces of 'unexploded' war relics.

A heady mix of rusted bombs, grenades and artillery shells were dug up from a drain outside Mr Fauzi's house during drainage works.

Foreign contractors working in the Jalan Gembira estate had stumbled upon the explosives while they were enlarging a drain at 2.45pm yesterday.

Mr Fauzi, who has lived in the estate off Aljunied Road for six years, said: 'I usually do some digging in my backyard whenever I plant fruit trees.

'Now that they've found bombs, I will be extra careful when I use my changkul. I would never suspect that all this time, the bombs lay buried near my house.'

Upgrading drainage works in the estate started since September last year and is expected to be completed in 2009.

An excavator operator had accidentally clipped the top of a rusted oil drum containing the explosives.

At first, it was not really clear what the workers had dug up, one supervisor from Eng Lam Contractors said.

Mr Allan Pitiquen, 28, said: 'All they (his workers) said was 'bomb, bomb'. I thought my workers had hit an electric cable and there was an explosion.

'When I came to the site, I must admit I was a little afraid. Yet, my workers were calm.'

Some workers had placed the bombs, believed to be relics from World War II, on the road side. It was raining at the time.

When a worker pulled out the first shell, the excavator operator recognised what it was and immediately called Mr Pitiquen.

The men covered the rusted shells and bombs with a black plastic sheet.

Mr Pitiquen said: 'We pulled out 16, I'm sure there are more. But the drain water made it difficult for us to see how many more were left in the oil drum.'

A worker from Bangladesh, who had lifted one of the shells, said it felt like 10kg.

Whether the shells were 'live' or had already been expended, nobody knew at that time.

The police arrived and soon cordoned off the area during the heavy rains.

All work in the area was also stopped.

But it did not stop many curious on-lookers from going closer.

Some watched from their windows, while others came out of their houses with umbrellas.

One resident, Mr Johnny Wee, 81, said: 'It's possible that these shells were the ones left behind by the British.

'During the war, I must have been about 14 years old, this area had been a scrap yard. I often cycled past this estate. But the old airport was also nearby and hearing gun battles in this area was common.'

Mr Wee had moved into the Jalan Gembira estate in 1959. The discovery of the explosives worried the estate's neighbourhood committee chairman, Mr Kashmir Singh.

Mr Singh, 60, said: 'My concern is the residents' safety. Does it mean that workers can expect to find more bombs and shells in the estate? I'm just surprised that it had escaped detection by the previous contractors. The bombs were not deeply buried.'

At 5.30pm, bomb disposal specialists arrived.

The explosives were carefully washed and identified using what seemed to be a manual.

The specialists pulled more explosives from the oil drum, while the police increased the size of the cordon.

A Ministry of Defence (Mindef) spokesman later said 27 unexploded war relics were found.

They comprised old artillery shells, mortar bombs and stick grenades.

The activating fuses were not attached.

The SAF Chemical Biological Radioactive and Explosive Defence Group is dealing with the relics, which will be taken to a demolition range for disposal.

Mindef would like to assure the public there is no cause for alarm.