Workers at a factory in Hong Kong were surprised to find an unexploded World War I hand grenade inside a shipment of unprocessed potatoes. According to customs authorities, the shipment of potatoes had originated from France and was imported by the Japanese snack food maker, Calbee, who owned and operated a factory in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Superintendent Wilfred Wong Ho-hon told reporters that they were, fortunately, able to detonate the explosive. The city's bomb squad used a drainage channel within the factory's premises. Firefighters and police were also on the scene to help cordon off the area and to keep the public away from the detonation area.
The grenade was apparently in an unstable condition as it was previously triggered but did not detonate. Authorities shared a video on social media of the bomb disposal, which took place near the TKO Industrial Estate in the eastern Sai Kung district. The grenade was about three inches wide and was about a kilogram in weight.
According to authorities, there apparently wasn't any reason to believe that the grenade was intentionally planted. The grenade was most likely placed inside the shipment of potatoes by accident. Hong Kong University military historian Dave Macri mentioned in an interview that the grenade was likely thrown away or dropped by soldiers during World War I and was then buried in mud.
The area where the grenade was buried was likely converted into a potato farm. Decades later, farmers who were harvesting the potatoes likely mistook it for one and placed it alongside their harvest. The harvest was then packed and sent to Hong Kong. The grenade inside the shipment of potatoes somehow managed to evade detection during transit. Workers at the factory only discovered it when it went through a potato processing machine. Fortunately, no charges were made to either the potato chip factory owners or the importer from France.
The grenade was the second antique grenade found in Hong Kong this month. The city has had to deal with a number of incidents involving old munitions in the past. Most of the old bombs that were found in the city were dropped by the United States on the invading Japanese forces during World War II. The United States and its allies heavily bomb the city while it was occupied by Japanese imperial forces in 1941. Last year, authorities had to defuse three World War II bombs. Two of the bombs were found by workers in the Wanchai district during the construction of a new metro train station.
