Police find C4 explosives in lower Manhattan cemetery

Several blocks of deadly C-4 explosive were found Monday morning in an East Village cemetery, police sources said.

There were no blasting caps found with the bricks, meaning there was no way to detonate the explosive.

"But it's still C-4, so it's being taken very seriously," a police source said.

Six to eight blocks of the plastic, military-grade explosive, formally known as Composition 4, were found in a black plastic garbage bag just inside Marble Cemetery, on E. Second St., between First and Second Aves.

The discovery was made at 10:50 a.m.

The NYPD Bomb Squad rushed to the scene, and police closed the area to traffic.

C-4 is composed mostly of white powder and a stick resin that gives it a putty-like quality.

According to the U.S. Army's web site, soldiers use C-4 to break down doors or bust through a larger obstacle.

It's most typically found in blocks weighing 1¼ pounds, each of which has the explosive power of 10 grenades and is capable of blowing up a car or felling a tree.

Modern buildings, which are constructed differently, are considered more vulnerable than pre-war buildings.

Last year, four men were arrested in an alleged plot to bomb two synagogues in Riverdale and shoot down military planes at a Air National Guard Base in Newburgh.

The suspects were busted in a sting operation after planting what they believed to be 37-pound C-4 bombs in cars outside the houses of worship