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87-year-old's grenades prompt police panic

Published: 8 Mar 13 14:40 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46626/20130308/

A police station in western Stockholm was evacuated in panic on Thursday after an elderly man turned in two grenades for confiscation.

Since March 1st, a weapons amnesty has been underway in Sweden allowing residents to turn in their weapons over to police without facing any criminal penalties.

However, when an 87-year-old man brought in two grenades to a police station in Vällingby in western Stockholm on Thursday, concerned staff members were left in a state of panic.

"The reaction was swift. We evacuated the whole police station and a nearby building was cordoned off," Peter Sarman of the local police told news website Nyheter24.

"It's only specially trained police officers who can determine whether such grenades are armed or not. We were forced to play it safe."

The grenades, however, were deemed to be inactive, and the police took to their Facebook page to explain that such situations should be avoided in the future.

"Grenades can detonate during transportation," they warned, adding that bomb technicians should be called in when such weapons are concerned.

They added that the amnesty does not include explosives, only firearms.

On Monday, police in Trollhätten in western Sweden were also left with a grenade in a bag from state-run alcohol monopoly chain Systembolaget. The grenade was believed to be from World War I.

TT/The Local/og
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20:43 March 8, 2013 by sunnchilde
This story reminds me a few months ago when construction workers in Germany were digging in to a building foundation and found a 500 pound bomb dropped by Allied bombers back in 1943-4. They freaked out, evacuated three blocks in every direction and called in the bomb squad. It actually happens there all too often. These munitions are old, unstable and are still quite lethal.

A few years ago in California loggers found the remains of a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver which could have been armed with a 2000 pound Mark 12 torpedo.
18:36 March 11, 2013 by rohermoker
There was a big gun buyback in Califirnia ( I dont know how a Government agancy can buyback something it never owned, but that is a whole nother deal). Someone turned some AT-4 tubes. They were both marked in big red letters INERT (means they are empty, never loaded, trainning only) and the LAPD spouting how the streets are somehow safer with this fiberglass off the streets. At least the Local had the honesty to state "The grenades, however, were deemed to be inactive"
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