Surrey RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces destroyed a replica grenade in South Surrey on Saturday, March 13. (File photo)

Military called after replica grenade found in South Surrey storage locker

Surrey RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces destroy replica explosive device

A woman who purchased the contents of a storage locker in an auction in South Surrey ended up with more than she bargained for.

Surrey RCMP said police were called to a storage locker unit near 150 Street and 32 Avenue on Friday (March 12) after a woman found a replica grenade inside a locker.

Police secured the storage unit and the following day, with help from the Canadian Armed Forces, relocated the grenade to an empty field near 160 Street and 20 Avenue. Surrey RCMP’s Explosive Disposal Unit, police said, was not available at the time.

SEE ALSO: Homemade explosives detonated in South Surrey

After military safely destroyed the item, police learned the grenade was only a replica.

Surrey RCMP Sgt. Elenore Sturko said the woman did the right thing by calling police after she found the replica grenade.

“It can be difficult to just simply determine if something is real or not by looking at it,” Sturko said. “People do need to exercise caution when dealing with suspected explosive devices. In this case, they did the right thing by contacting police.

“We would rather find out later that it was a replica than find out, through a tragedy, that it was something that was real.”


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