EOD Called to Charity Shop for Donation Detonation
Wem, England British Army EOD responded to a quiet market town to carry out a controlled explosion after ordnance was donated to a charity shop. A portion of the Wem, Shropshire town center was cordoned off after the 10-inch shell was discovered by staff in a bag of donations at the Severn Hospice store.
West Mercia Police were called in to move the round to a nearby park to await EOD response for a controlled detonation.
The store's retail manager, Carla Siswick, said workers at the shop were shocked to find the artillery shell in a bag of items dropped off by a donor. Siswick said, "It's not what we normally find. It was quite exciting, but also quite nerve-wracking."
"It was quite an exciting Wednesday, the shop was busy. Our shop team were going through a normal carrier bag with donations in, and in the bag we had a pottery cat, some books and old bottles, but then the team found a 10-inch shell. It was very heavy, which is the thing that really raised the alarm to the team and them thinking we probably need to deal with this," She continued.
"It was testament to our staff who dealt with it so calmly and contacted police, who then reached out and brought an EOD team to the shop where it was detonated. We do get some weird and wonderful things in our shops, but we certainly don't want any more live ammunition. The staff certainly needed some cups of tea after that."
A spokesperson for West Mercia Police issued the following statement, "Following an unexploded ordnance being handed into police this afternoon, EOD attended and moved the device to a safe location where they conducted a controlled explosion. The cordon has now been lifted. Thank you for your patience."