Kind soul donates Claymore mine to charity

Colorado shopping centre evacuated

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 24th July 2009 11:30 GMT

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A kind soul who donated a Claymore mine to charity prompted the evacuation of a Colorado shopping centre earlier this week.

The anonymous benefactor left the explosive device at a Goodwill store in Arvada on Tuesday, according to news reports. An employee discovered the "suspicious" object while sorting through other less-potentially-lethal donations.

The worker was clearly no slouch in the weaponry department and "told police that the package appeared to be some type of a mine or explosive device",* as Arvada police Sgt Jeff Monzingo explained.

Cue evacution of the area and the arrival of the Jefferson County bomb squad, which confirmed the mine was a Claymore designed to down the enemy by projecting unfriendly steel ball shrapnel.

The bomb squad removed the device without further incident. Monzingo said he didn't know whether or not it was live.

Investigators are now not unreasonably "trying to figure out who left the Claymore mine in the dropoff bin". ®

Bootnote

*It has to be said, this is not the most taxing weaponry-identification challenge, since a classic M18A1 Claymore comes in fetching army green and bears the legend "FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY" on the, er, front.

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