Live Lemon Grenade Recovered Near Fabers Road Extension

The Belize Defense Force Bomb Expert was called in on Fabers Road on Wednesday night where another deadly grenade was discovered. The active explosive device was safely removed off the streets of the Old Capital, following an operation led by a police strike team.  Sometime around six-forty p.m., a team of officers visited an area near Fabers Road Extension where they discovered an M-twenty-six fragmentation explosive.  Otherwise known as a lemon grenade, it is an American-made hand-thrown bomb that has been in service since the 1950s.  The rusty explosive was concealed inside a black plastic bag within an old knapsack.  Upon discovery, the area was sealed off from the public and B.D.F. bomb expert David Jones was called in for its disposal.

Brig. Gen. David Jones, B.D.F. Bomb Expert

“Okay, yesterday evening I was receiving a phone call from Mr. Grinage from the police department who informed me that there is a grenade that was possibly in the Fabers Road area that needs retrieval.  So I subsequently went down to the area and I arrived, I believe, at a quarter to eight last night where I was taken off the road into the woods and found a knapsack.  Inside the knapsack was the grenade.  It was properly wrapped in plastic.  It was sealed in tape.  The condition of the body after I exposed the tape from it, it’s severely corroded and it’s in a dangerous state.  I’m not going to unwrap anymore of the tape that’s on it because it’s in a state that it probably might go off if I release it.  So it’s in a dangerous state.  It’s a grenade that we’ll have to destroy very quickly.  It’s an American origin M26 grenade similar to the one that we had retrieved from the police a couple months back, I believe on the Tenth of September was one of them.  Similar type grenade like those of American origin.”

Isani Cayetano

David Jones

“In terms of the frequency, so to speak, of these discoveries, over the past three to four months you’ve come up with three of them.  Do you know the country of origin in terms of where these grenades are coming from, neighboring countries?”

Brig. Gen. David Jones

“Okay, those grenades could probably come from anyone of our neighboring countries, be it through Guatemala, Salvador or Honduras because we’ve heard that some of these items come from such countries, you know.  Won’t be able to say exactly which one of them but the possibility is that it could be coming from any one of our neighboring countries.  There may be a few more out there and if people are aware of where these things are I would just like them to call the police who subsequently will call us so that we can safely remove them because based on the condition of these grenades it’s a possibility that if there are more out there they are in a very dangerous state and they could probably function and function and hurt someone who would just be walking and passing by without any knowledge of such item being around.”

Isani Cayetano

“Does the degree of corrosion speak to how old the grenade is or maybe the condition in which it is being stored?”

Brig. Gen. David Jones

“Well the degree of corrosion on this particular grenade was because of the fact that it was stored in the bushes and beside a swampy area, so when there would be heavy rain that bag would have been covered in water.  So subsequent exposure to water and getting dry, getting wet would cause the corrosion of this grenade.  But that grenade, on inspection, is still functionable.  If the pin is pulled it will still work and it will cause the same devastation.”

The grenade found on Wednesday is the third such explosive to be found and safely removed from the streets of Belize City.  A previous discovery was made by police personnel on September tenth.