Bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion after a smoke grenade was found in a Bradford alleyway in the 15th Army call-out to the city in three years.

Statistics from the Ministry of Defence released to the Telegraph & Argus under the Freedom of Information Act show the Catterick-based Army bomb disposal unit had been deployed to 14 other reports of suspicious packages, bomb hoaxes and improvised explosive devices in the district before the latest incident on Monday night.

Police were called after a canister – about 5ins long and covered in rust and dents – was found by a passer-by behind a solicitors’ office in Sunbridge Road.

Officers taped off the alleyway and called in bomb disposal experts, who removed the device and detonated it on wasteland off Ingeleby Road.

The new figures show the incident is just one of a catalogue of call-outs in Bradford, Bingley, Keighley and Ilkley since 2009.

An Army spokesman said: “The emergency services may call upon the bomb disposal engineers to provide the essential expertise, clear and make safe civilian areas when dealing with suspected munitions.”

In one incident in August 2010, a bag containing three two-litre bottles of lemonade sparked a bomb alert in Bradford city centre. The Telegraph & Argus reported how a bang could be heard for miles as the Army carried out a controlled blast.

A few months later, in January 2011, bomb squad officers were called to an address in Bingley where an improvised explosive device comprising of a firework and various chemicals was found.

The figures also reveal bomb experts were called to the city three times in ten days in April 2011 – including two trips to Bradford’s Trafalgar Street police station on Nelson Street.

On April 14, Army officers recovered a hand-fired flare and a week later were called to an address in Bradford where a hand grenade was found.

Then on April 24, the police station had to be partially evacuated after a teenager sent a text message threatening to blow it up. A suspicious cardboard box – which was later found to be unconnected to the youth – was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Other reports listed include a hand flare handed in at Keighley Police Station in May 2011 and a hoax bomb threat at NatWest on Manningham Lane on December 29, 2009, when surrounding roads were sealed off for four hours while the Army bomb disposal travelled to examine a package used by a would-be robber to threaten staff. It was later found to be harmless.

An MOD spokesman could not detail the cost of each incident.

Anyone with information about Monday’s smoke grenade incident should call the police non-emergency number 101.