An entire street had to be evacuated after a man pulled a pin on a grenade he bought at a market.
Bixton Close, in Northwick, Worcester, was sealed off with a 100m cordon on Sunday evening after the man showed the grenade to some friends.
He bought the RG-42 – a World War Two Soviet Union explosive device – from an antiques market over a year ago for £30.
But he didn’t think it was a live device until he pulled the pin and it started making a noise.
‘I noticed something was wrong as soon as I released the safety pin and the spoon sprung off it immediately,’ the man said.
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‘It made some sort of reaction similar to when a firework fuse is ignited. It was a spilt second, I immediately threw this at the rear of the garden and evacuated the property and called the police.
‘I was told to be minimum 100 metres away and try to alert neighbours. Police arrived within several minutes.
‘Around five police cars turned up and about 30 minutes after the RLC bomb squad arrived to investigate.
‘He firstly x-rayed the grenade to see if it still had its explosive content left.
‘He’s sure it was decommissioned but not certain, so he put it inside what looked to be a heavy-duty explosives box and told me he is going to dispose of it back at base.
‘A few people were worried in the street. The area was locked for about three to four hours.’
He said he ‘never intended to cause harm or distress’ and thought the item was deactivated.
A West Mercia Police spokesperson said: ‘Officers were called to Bixton Close in Worcester at around 7pm Sunday, June 1 following the discovery of a suspected hand grenade in a garden.
‘As a precaution, a 100m cordon has been put in place and the area has been evacuated while we wait for experts from Explosive Ordnance Disposal to attend the scene.
‘The EOD team x-rayed the grenade and found it was empty so there was no need for a controlled explosion.’
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