New Zealand’s bomb squad has been called into a chip factory after a suspicious-looking potato trundling down the production line turned out to be a grenade.
Grenades frequently pop up in potato fields in Europe, but are a highly unusual find in New Zealand.
The weapon had been sent to Auckland’s East Tamaki Mr Chips factory on Tuesday, after being dug up from a potato farm in Matamata, in the Waikato region.
The rusty grenade could easily have been mistaken for a large dirty potato, but an eagle-eyed worker spotted it before it became an unpleasant addition to a bag of hot chips.
Night shift worker Richard Teurukura told news website Stuff, he pulled the device from a “potato reception area”, where 100,000 potatoes had been delivered at 3.30am on Tuesday. Initially, he thought the object was a muddy stone but on further inspection, was surprised to discover it was a grenade.
He stopped the conveyer belt and asked his colleague who had “seen a lot of war movies” to confirm it was as he suspected, and the grenade was then placed in a cordoned off area at a safe distance from staff.
The defence force’s explosive ordinance disposal team arrived shortly after 4am and found it was inert.
The roughly 80-year-old grenade was a British-manufactured “Mills bomb” hand grenade that was widely used in the first and second world wars, the defence force confirmed.
The Mr Chips factory’s operations manager, Roland Spitaels, told Stuff it was the first weapon discovered on the chain in the factory’s 30-year history.
“I think it’s quite remarkable [Teurukura] did pick it up, hats off to him for keeping his cool about the whole thing,” Spitaels said. “The guys took the right safety precautions but there was still extreme interest.”
Spitaels said he has photocopied a picture of the grenade to place around the factory so other workers know what to look out for. The object itself is now in police care, undergoing investigation, but Spitaels said he would eventually like it back for the factory’s trophy room.
“It made for a more interesting night than we normally have,” he said.
