Photo: RCMP

A live grenade was turned over to the Grand Forks RCMP last week, but not in a way police would have preferred.

An RCMP news release says a person dropped by the police detachment in Grand Forks on Dec. 1 to turn in some firearms and ammunition they did not want.

Also present was a realistic-looking grenade.

After contacting the RCMP’s bomb squad, it was determined the grenade was from the Canadian Armed Forces. Mounties sent a photo of the grenade to the military, which promptly sent members to the community.

On Dec. 2, military members confirmed that the grenade was in fact real and was not inert. It was seized and disposed of.

RCMP want residents to avoid attending detachments with weapons they want to surrender. Call the police and an officer will attend to seize the items.

“This was a potentially scary incident in what was later confirmed to be a live grenade brought to the detachment,” stated detachment commander Sgt. Darryl Peppler. “We are trained to treat all firearms and other weapons as live, and this is a good example as to why we do that.”