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Date Published: 04/08/2022

ARCHIVED - Live anti-tank land mine on Almeria beach among 4 dangerous explosives found already this summer

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The bomb squad in Almeria, Spain have discovered four separate explosive devices in the province so far this summer

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Live anti-tank land mine on Almeria beach among 4 dangerous explosives found already this summer

So far this summer, police in Almeria have found four separate explosive devices on the beaches and streets of the province, including two grenades, one missile and an anti-tank land mine.

Agents of the National Police assigned to the Explosives Disposal Group of the Provincial Police Station of Almeria (TEDAX) have been called in to disable the potentially dangerous devices.

First, the bomb squad managed to deactivate an anti-tank mine (expal brand, model C5) which contained around 1,800 grams of explosive.

The mine was discovered at one end of the Playa del Perdigal, right next to Almeria airport. It was half buried in the sand and was found to have the safety system armed with the possibility of being fused from below.

This device has been widely used by the Armed Forces, but police are at a loss as to how it made its way onto the beach this summer.

At the same time, up in the countryside area of the Paraje el Cuco, workers digging in the ground while preparing to build a greenhouse called the bomb squad after they unearthed a 90mm artillery projectile of the tracer perforating type.

This American model was in use until the end of the 1980s and was fired from the guns of M-47 and M-48 tanks. It doesn’t actually have any explosive charge, basing its operation on the perforation of the material using only kinetic energy, but is used mainly to perforate armoured plates.

Likewise, on July 18 explosive ordnance disposal officers were called out to a private home in the Plaza de Coscoja, where a 40mm practice grenade was found among the belongings of a person who had recently died.

An examination carried out by the agents concluded that the grenade had already been fired, and that it was in its sheath.

More recently, on July 29, at the Intermodal Bus Station in central Almeria, a Romanian man was caught with an airsoft grenade – Grenade Hand Tag-67 Airsoft Frag Delay – in his belongings.

This is an airsoft item, an imitation of the M67 fragmentation grenade used by US and Canadian Armed Forces, but given the risk of transport and handling it, police decided to neutralise it.

They detonated the grenade in a safe and secure manner, with a blast that produced 130 decibels of sound and had a dispersion radius of 10 metres.

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Images: Policía Nacional

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