Grenade in vehicle at border not real

[Newsjock]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/161062_grenade18.html

Grenade in vehicle at border not real
'It might be a training' weapon, source says
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

It took more than 24 hours and an international investigation by Canadian and U.S. civilian and military authorities.

But by yesterday afternoon federal investigators could say that a hand grenade found Monday in the glove compartment of an American woman's vehicle crossing into Canada near Blaine was not real.

"We now believe it might be a training grenade," a federal criminal justice source told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer yesterday. "When you throw them they go 'pop' like a firecracker to simulate combat" instead of a concussive explosion of deadly shrapnel from a fragmentation grenade, the source said.

While definitive word was not returned from the Canadian lab inspecting the grenade yesterday afternoon, "all agencies involved think it is a training grenade," the source said. "There is no indication that it was terrorism or that she planned to blow anything up."

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[buckeye1]

1. See how silly we are now.

I suppose the great organs of national security have to justify the huge budgets. Find something,anything!

[Turley]

2. The real ones are green

The training grenades are painted blue and are, essentially hollow metal balls with holes in both ends. If it had the fuse with a spoon, it would look real to the uninitiated. Anyone with military experience would recognize it immediately. Even with a fuse in place it still has a hole in the bottom so you can see it is hollow.

[BiggJawn]

3. Aren't they sometimes marked "INERT", too?

Oh, well, better safe than sorry, see, the system DOES work. You're all safe! Now, get back to that shopping!

[ET Awful]

4. Not to mention they're usually beat to hell . . .

from being tossed a thousand times before in training :).

The spoon/fuse threads in and out and the hollow ball is used indefinitely.