Old folk in a Lisbon rest home “lived with danger at the door” for more than three decades.
In a delightful story this morning, national tabloid Correio da Manhã describes the moment that two zealous members of staff decided to tackle an old storeroom in the home’s lobby.
The room had been “closed” for more than 30 years, writes CM, giving no explanation as to why.
“The discovery was made at 3.15pm on Wednesday,” the story continued.
A man, “possibly the owner of the building”, and a woman – opened the room and saw six unexploded grenades, various military equipment and parts of uniforms.
The man “shut the door and called PSP police”, said the paper, who believe the find was a collection of souvenirs from the colonial wars.
Police decided that “it was possible to remove the grenades in safety”. Thus the 34 residents were undisturbed.
Indeed, most of them were not even aware they could have been in any kind of danger, adds CM.
Bomb squad detectives then came and went, along with INEM (“as a precaution”) and “normality returned to the home in Rua Alves Torgo at 5pm”.
The grenades, further “parts of grenades and empty grenade boxes” have been removed to the special police unit in Belas, adds the paper, “where they will be analysed”.
The man, meantime, and his female helper have refused all CM’s attempts for an interview.
