Chinese authorities have dismissed reports that a suspected China-made artillery shell was discovered in a industrial delivery container in Papua New Guinea, saying it is a “shell-shaped wine bottle”.

“It poses no danger at all,” the Chinese embassy wrote in a Facebook submit on Tuesday, drawing skeptical feedback.

Police in Port Moresby arrested 4 Chinese nationals last Friday after the 32kg object was discovered at a development website in the capital metropolis.

Authorities were wanting into whether it was a dwell system, native reports said then, with police commissioner David Manning describing it as “a very concerning discovery”.

In a report on Wednesday, the Australia Broadcasting Corporation cited unnamed sources figuring out the object as an undetonated 130mm Chinese Type 59 Artillery Projectile that comprises chemical explosives and a fuse. The BBC has not independently verified this.

Papua New Guinea police had earlier dismissed hypothesis that the object was “merely a dummy”, native newspaper Post Courier said.

However, the Chinese embassy said in its assertion that it is “virtually impossible” for an unlawful military-grade artillery shell to be smuggled out of China to Papua New Guinea.

“China enforces some of the world’s strictest firearm control laws and regulations,” it wrote, including that China is “widely recognised as one of the safest countries globally”.

Some Facebook customers seem unconvinced.

“What sort of wine bottle weighs 32 kilograms?” wrote one of them.

Another wrote that the object bore no labels indicating that it’s a wine bottle.