Live Hand Grenade Found At Sattahip Building Site

March 30, 2013

A Navy bomb squad safely de-activated a WW II-type hand grenade found at a Sattahip construction site. The grenade’s pin had been pulled but it had not detonated. Police speculated that perhaps teenagers had tried to explode the grenade, which turned out to be defective.

SATTAHIP – March 29, 2013 [PDN]: At 12:30 p.m., a report of someone finding a bomb left in the vacant area of a construction site was received by Pol. Capt. Nares Boontee, detective officer of Sattahip police station.

The bomb was found at the roadside near Huaytoo community entrance, moo 6, Bangsare, Sattahip, Chonburi. The detective went with the bomb squad from the Navy weapons department to de-activate it.

The bomb squad, led by RA Sorasak Raksong, arrived at the scene. About 20 meters from the road, they found a hand grenade, type Mk.II MARK II, that appeared to be in new condition. The grenade’s pin had been pulled, but it had not detonated, possibly from a problem with the ignition fuse.

The bomb squad blocked the area to keep people away from the scene, and dis-armed the grenade safely. RA Sorasak Raksong, the leader of the bomb squad, said that it was a throwing type grenade, and a massive destruction weapon with a deadly radius of 20-30 feet.

It was the old generation grenade from WW II that was produced in the U.S. It was the father generation of the M67 that was called “Noina” (custard apple) used in the Thai army.

Police talked to the man who found the grenade, Mr. Wuttiratthapakorn Kaewkhiang, 42 years old, a building contractor. He said that the owner of the land had hired him to grade the area, to prepare for building a resort.

At noon, he went to check the area, and found the hand grenade lying on the ground, about a meter from a car. So he called authorities to de-activate it. Luckily, the grenade was found before the tractor ran over it, which might have caused it to explode and cause death or injuries.

Pol. Col. Nares Boontee, the detective of the shift, said that it could be that some teenagers threw the grenade, but it did not work. However, it appears they did not want to threaten or kill anyone, because the grenade was found far away from anyone’s house. The police sent the grenade to Navy weapons department to examine it to find out about its origin.