The 34-year-old American was preparing to board a return flight to the US on Wednesday when he inadvertently triggered a security scare after two World War II-era hand grenades were found in his suitcase.

Police and firefighters were called to the scene in response and promptly evacuated the area. They then detained and questioned the man, after which they discovered he was a tourist visiting the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea.

An amateur treasure hunter who had arrived in Germany with a metal detector to search for coins, he reportedly found the grenades along with some other metal objects and decided to keep them as souvenirs.

Bomb, or paperweight?

The two explosives didn't have their detonators and were filled with sand, according to police at the scene. A bomb unit checked them out and quickly gave the all-clear.

The souvenirs were, according to one police spokesperson, "what some people would use as a paperweight."

The man was allowed to board a later flight back to the US. Though some flights were delayed, air traffic was not fundamentally impaired due to the incident.

blc/kl (dpa, AFP)