ARMY bomb disposal experts have made safe and removed a live hand grenade found by a man digging his garden in Letterkenny this morning.

BY C.J.MCGINLEY

ARMY bomb disposal experts have made safe and removed a live hand grenade found by a man digging his garden in Letterkenny this morning.

Bernard Houston, got the shock of his life, when his spade struck the grenade in the front garden of his home at Glencar Park around 10.30 am. on the busy Circular Road not far from the hospital. The pin was still attached to the grenade making it live.


“I was digging the garden up and the 9 year-old son was with me when I hit the object,” he told the Donegal News.

“I had been clearing away bushes when I came across it. At first I thought it was a stone but straight away I saw the grenade- the size of your hand- with the pin on it and I immediately got the young lad away and raised the alarm,” he added.

Gardai were alerted and they immediately secured the area and evacuated residents. A team from the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team removed the the ‘pineapple’ type hand grenade this afternoon around 4.30pm, ending a seven hour security operation.

It was taken under escort to Finner Army camp for inspection in an effort to ascertain how it ended up in the garden. One theory is it may have been transported in topsoil to the site as the houses were being built.

Detectives sealed off the entrance to the estate and the area was cordoned off awaiting the arrival of the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. Local residents were evacuated until the device was removed.

Local Garda Inspector Goretti Sheridan confirmed the device is a hand grenade. “It is now being taken away for technical examination,” she told the Donegal News.