By Michael Bielawski

The Bomb Squad had to be called for a grenade found in a container in Woodford on Friday. The staff of the local ski resort found it while cleaning up.

At about 3:25 in the afternoon, State Police were contacted by the property management of the Prospect Mountain Ski Area in Woodford. Police say that the resort crew “reported finding a suspected hand grenade in a container while conducting cleanup near the parking lot.”

The report continues, “Troopers from the Shaftsbury barracks responded to the scene and confirmed the report. The Vermont State Police Bomb Squad was consulted and responded to the incident. State Police Bomb Squad personnel rendered the suspected hand grenade safe and collected it for disposal. No additional hazards were located at the site of the incident, and no injuries were reported.”

A trend developing?

This is not the first military-type weapon found in Vermont this year. There was a drug bust in late January in Bethel where nine people were arrested and a grenade launcher was found along with firearms and drugs.

“According to authorities, they found a kilogram of fentanyl and cocaine, a homemade ‘ghost gun’, numerous long guns, two sawed-off shotguns, a grenade launcher, and three pistols with extended magazines at the residence,” VDC reported.

What do the feds say?

The US Department of Homeland Security hasn’t issued a formal update on potential terrorist threats in the nation since 2023. The warning says that there are multiple threats within the nation and that America is in a “heightened threat environment.”

It says groups from both left and right-wing political origins can be targeted. Targets include “US critical infrastructure, faith-based institutions, individuals or events associated with the LGBTQIA+ community, schools, racial and ethnic minorities, and government facilities and personnel, including law enforcement.”

“Lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland,” it states. “Both domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those associated with foreign terrorist organizations continue to attempt to motivate supporters to conduct attacks in the Homeland, including through violent extremist messaging and online calls for violence.”

Coming from drug cartels?

A report by the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2011 indicated that hand grenades were increasingly becoming a weapon of choice among Mexican drug cartels.

Their report states, “Over the last few years, it has become more commonplace to see military-type weaponry such as grenades and assault rifles utilized by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Increasingly, many of the reported hand grenade seizures in the United States are illegal, improvised grenades destined for Mexico and the DTOs.”

The same report notes that the origin of a grenade can sometimes be determined via its components. It states, “The collection of this information will benefit in linking grenades recovered in both the US and Mexico to the same builder, and identify common components such as grenade fuses. This information will allow the possible tracking of shipping routes and identification of the source of the materials.”

A souvenir?

Stories of veterans’ homes being searched after they passed reveal that some early and mid-20th-century grenades are still found in old attics.

CBS News in 2023 reported one such incident in Bryan, Ohio. The region’s bomb squad was called after a World War II-era grenade was discovered.

The report states, “Family members who were cleaning out the relative’s home discovered a display of WWII-era objects, including the German-style stick hand grenade and a small artillery shell, police said.”

The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle