(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –A German World War I hand grenade was found among a shipment of French potatoes imported for a Hong Kong crisp factory, police said.
The device was safely detonated after it was discovered at the Calbee snacks factory on Saturday (Feb 2).
“The grenade was in an unstable condition because it has been previously discharged but failed to detonate,” Superintendent Wilfred Wong Ho-hon told reporters.
Police detonated it on site, Wong said, with a police video showing bomb disposal officers packing the grenade in a drainage channel at the factory before blowing it up.
The grenade was eight centimetres (three inches) wide and weighed about one kilogram (two pounds).
“All the information to date suggested that the grenade was imported from France together with the other potatoes,” Wong said.
