A hand grenade that authorities say is from World War I turned up unexpectedly at a potato chip factory at an industrial estate in Hong Kong last week, the South China Morning Post reported Saturday.
The grenade is thought to have originated in France before being shipped to a Calbee snack factory in Hong Kong, the Post said. It was reportedly coated with mud when it was obtained by law enforcement, leading them to believe it may have been buried in a potato field and mistakenly included in the shipment.
????Update????@hkpoliceforce have detonated a grenade at the TKO Industrial Estate. No causality is reported. #香港警察 在將軍澳工業邨剛引爆一枚手榴彈，現場安全。#Safeguarding #HongKong #Safety #Emergency #Explosive #EOD???? pic.twitter.com/L4ZZUHiEwF
— Hong Kong Police Force (@hkpoliceforce) February 2, 2019
Tseung Kwan O assistant district commander Wong Ho-hon said officers on the scene “identified it as a German-made weapon believed to have been used during the first world war,” according to the Post.
He told the paper the bomb was securely detonated using a “high-pressure water firing technique,” video of which the Hong Kong Police Force shared on Twitter on Saturday.
Exclusive!
We detonated a German made WW1 hand grenade earlier this afternoon.獨家！
拆彈專家????較早時間引爆了一枚第一次世界大戰時德國製的手榴彈。#HongKong #Police #Emergency #safeguarding #EOD pic.twitter.com/xc1KxsZwjK— Hong Kong Police Force (@hkpoliceforce) February 2, 2019
Calbee, a Japanese maker of snack foods, did not immediately return a request for comment about the incident.
Remarkably, this is not the only old as hell grenade making headlines in recent weeks. Just last weekend, a Taco Bell was evacuated after a couple in Florida alerted authorities that they’d discovered what turned out to be a World War II-era hand grenade. The couple had reportedly come across the hand grenade while they were magnet fishing and drove to the fast-food restaurant, where they then called the police.
No one was hurt in either incident.