On Sunday afternoon, police pyrotechnicians used three controlled blasts to dispose of war munitions near Vlachovice in the Žďár region. These included 77 assault hand grenades and 127 detonators. Another 87 hand grenades were taken away. The ammunition was found in the forest on Saturday by a woman using a metal detector.
No one was injured at its disposal, and no property damage was caused. The village inhabitants were informed of the intervention, but there was no need to evacuate them, regional police spokeswoman Dana Čírtková said.
“It was not possible to handle part of the military munitions because of their instability, so the pyrotechnician decided to dispose of them on the spot,” the spokesperson said. The controlled launches were carried out between 12:35 and 14:40. The site was landscaped after the munitions were disposed of and handed over to the owner.
Police learned of the discovery of the ammunition in the forest near Vlachovice on Saturday afternoon. The woman found several heavily corroded detonators about ten centimeters below the surface using a metal detector. Police have secured the site of the discovery. A pyrotechnician on first inspection found about 40 heavily corroded hand grenades and several fuses, probably from World War II.
Due to the assumption that there may be more ammunition at the site, work was suspended from Saturday evening until Sunday morning. More military ammunition was found by bomb squads today. During the search, which was also carried out with the help of a special excavator, they eventually found 77 hand grenades of Czechoslovak manufacture. These were RG 34 assault hand grenades. They also destroyed 127 RG 31 detonators on the spot. Another 87 RG 31 hand grenades of Polish manufacture were taken elsewhere for disposal.