TWO Second World War hand grenades were discovered in a cupboard in Kingsbridge on Tuesday.

Police were called to Moyseys Interiors on Fore Street to examine the devices. On first sight it looked as though they had been disabled as there were holes drilled into the sides.

HMS Raleigh’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit were called to investigate. They stated that it appeared someone believed they had disabled the grenades. However they had not taken the explosive elements out, meaning they were in fact still live.

Owner of Moyseys, Roger Honeywill said: ‘We were having a major clear out and moving out of Fore Street to a new showroom on Lower Union Road after 40 years.

‘There’s a cupboard that hadn’t been sorted out for many years and in the back corner the painter and decorator found two hand grenades, partially buried in soil.

‘We thought we should be safe and called 101, who then contacted the HMS Raleigh bomb squad.

Mr Honeywill continued: ‘The pins were still intact, but they were very old and rusted over, but it turns out they were still live. We thought they must have been training grenades, but it shows that you can’t be too careful. The shop was closed and cordoned off for almost three hours.

‘Apparently they were issued to locals during the Second World War. My father-in-law took over the shop in 1977 from Mr Moysey, so we can only assume that Mr Moysey must have had them during the Second World War and they’ve been there ever since.’

Sgt David Green, Kingsbridge neighbourhood team leader said: ‘Because the stability of these grenades was unknown, police cordoned off the area and called Royal Navy bomb disposal specialists, who confirmed both devices were still live and could explode.

‘Devices like this are usually detonated by EOD in situ as they are unstable. However due to their location they were taken to a quarry in Plymouth where they were detonated safely.

‘During the Second World War, the Ministry of Defence handed out ammunition and explosives to locals as a line of defence should we be invaded and inevitably many of the devices were never handed back.

‘It appears that although the mainland of Great Britain has not been successfully invaded for almost 1,000 years, the detritus of war continues to turn up within our communities.

‘If you have any old explosives such as this then please contact us. They are dangerous and could cause serious injury or loss of life. Thankfully, this shopkeeper did the right thing in contacting us as soon as they were found.’