Cristina Hodgson
EXPLOSIVES experts from Spain’s National Police have been called to Torremolinos after unexploded Spanish Civil War missiles were found.
The discovery of two projectiles from the Spanish Civil War in the north of Torremolinos has seen National Police TEDAX officers, who specialise in the deactivation of explosive devices, seal off the area twice in less than a week.
According to official police sources, the first warhead was found on February 12 by hikers on a forest path in El Pinillo, north of the municipality.
After coming across the suspicious device they called 091 and TEDAX National Police officers were deployed to the scene who detonated the device in a controlled manner.
Specialists verified that the warhead was a 65 millimetre projectile, between four and five centimetres in diameter, of Italian origin used in the Spanish Civil War.
Six days later, in the same area near the quarry in the town, an off-duty fireman came across another similar projectile.
TEDAX National Police officers were once again deployed to the scene, and confirmed the device was inert.
The discovery of this type of projectile is relatively frequent throughout the province of Malaga.
In November, the National Police reported the controlled detonation of a naval artillery shell found in Marbella and two hand grenades found in Antequera.
Both discoveries were made in the space of just twenty days.
The first of these, with a calibre of 95 millimetres and a length of 395 millimetres, was found in the vicinity of Arroyo de las Cabrillas in Marbella, by a farmer while he was ploughing.
In Antequera, a tractor driver found one of the grenades while working on a farm in the foothills of the El Torcal Natural Park.
The following day, hunters found another grenade in a hunting ground near the Los Nogales-La Joya road.
If a suspected device is located, TEDAX recommend not to touch, handle or move the object and immediately notify the police.
“Do not rely on its deteriorated appearance, in many cases the interior is intact and can cause personal and material damage,” they have warned.
