The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force removed and defused this American, World War II-era shell at a construction site in Naha city, Okinawa, Dec. 17, 2024. (Naha city)

NAHA, Okinawa — Japanese troops removed and defused an American shell believed to be from World War II on Tuesday at a construction site in Okinawa’s capital city.

Ten members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 101st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit moved the 5-inch shell by crane and into an explosion-proof container and defused it, a spokesman with the city’s Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Division said by phone.

The operation began at 10 a.m. and concluded a half-hour later, he said.

The shell was taken to a prefecture-managed warehouse and will be detonated later, the spokesman said.

The ordnance was found on the morning of Oct. 23 at a construction site in the Uebaru district, according to the city’s website. A contractor found the shell while conducting a magnetic survey, the spokesman said.

Some Japanese government officials may speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

No businesses or homes were asked to evacuate, the city’s website said.

The discovery came as the Japanese government has been ramping up ordnance searches at airports around the country. Magnetic surveys began Monday at Naha Airport.

The government began the surveys in October at Miyazaki Airport on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, after a World War II-era bomb exploded that month.

Magnetic surveys at airports in Sendai, Matsuyama and Fukuoka are happening concurrently with the Naha survey.

Crews disposed of nearly 22 tons of unexploded ordnance believed to be from WWII on Okinawa between April 1, 2023, and March 31.