The Maine State Police Bomb Squad responded to Limington on Monday after a resident reportedly discovered a grenade near a dumpster.
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At approximately 5:30 p.m., a Limington man called the Augusta Regional Communications Center with a strange report, claiming that he found a grenade near a dumpster along the town’s Number 1 Road.
Maine State Police troopers responded and corroborated the man’s suspicion that the device was dangerous.
They requested assistance from the bomb squad, which sent technicians to examine the apparent grenade.
Technicians attempted to x-ray the grenade but were unable to determine the nature of the “energetic material” inside it.
They “countercharged” the grenade out of an abundance of caution. Countercharging is the process of placing a secondary explosive on the suspicious device, then detonating that explosive to destroy or defuse the other device.
The Maine State Police identified the device as closely resembling a “military-style” M67 hand grenade, though they specified that it had been modified.
It is not clear how a military grenade would have ended up near a Limington dumpster.
