‘Unexploded Grenade’ Found in German Forest Actually Just a Butt Plug

An object thought to be an unexploded World War II-era hand grenade found in woodland in Germany was actually a rubber sex toy, police have said. 

Earlier this week a jogger discovered what she thought was a grenade in the Bavarian forest near the city of Passau in the south of Germany, and called police.

A police bomb squad were called to the forest in Hauzenberg, but they quickly deemed the item to be non-threatening. The bag the grenade was in also contained lubricant, two unopened condoms, and a USB cable – objects which helped bomb disposal experts to reach their conclusion.

The condition the objects were found in implied they had been in the forest for a while, police said.

“A search on the internet then confirmed the suspicion. There are actually sex toys in the form of hand grenades. And that was what it was all about here,” police told VICE World News in an emailed statement.

“Due to the advanced decomposition of the bag, the objects must have been there for a long time. How these items got there and why they got there can only be guessed at.”

Police in Germany are often called to deal with undetonated explosives, 75 years on from World War II. In December 2020, 13,000 residents in a neighbourhood in Frankfurt were evacuated due to the discovery of a British bomb.