POLICE shut down a section of Beach Rd, Christies Beach yesterday after ammunition was surrendered at The Gunnery shooting range and gun shop.

Fortunately, they discovered the mortars and grenades – contained in a box – were inert.

The Gunnery owner Peter, who did not want to disclose his surname, said a man brought the box in after finding it in a deceased family member’s home.

“They didn’t know where to take it,” Peter said.

His shooting range supports the National Firearms Amnesty, which encourages people to hand in firearms or related items to reduce the number of unregistered weapons in the community.

media_camera A screencap of The Gunnery's Facebook page about grenades and mortars being brought in.

However, Peter said explosives were very different to guns – so not within his staff’s area of expertise.

An army bomb disposal unit, called in by police, quickly found that they were training rounds – and therefore not a danger.

“We took the right precautions (and) the police dealt with everything very quickly and professionally,” Peter said.

He said some people might have been inconvenienced by the roughly hour-long road closure but this had been necessary to ensure community safety.

South Coast Inspector James Downs said it was not uncommon for people to find items like these when clearing out farming and rural properties or deceased estates.

He urged the public to move a safe distance away from any items they find that they suspect might be an explosive and contact police immediately.