Slice of history: Six live mortar shells believed to be from World War-II period recovered

A CORRESPONDENT

NUMALIGARH: Panic gripped after six live mortar shells were found at no.3 Koiborto village near Morangi in Golaghat district on Thursday. The shells, weighing more than 15 kg each, are believed to be from the World War II period. The six live mortar shells were found when a villager was digging for wild potatoes. The village head said, "A villager came to me this morning and told me that he has found something while digging for bon kochu (wild potatoes) at a place near the paddy fields. I went to the place with him and saw these weird things. I immediately informed the police about it." Police reached the spot and took custody of all the six mortar shells.

The person who found the mortar shells told The Sentinel, "With the ongoing lockdowns, I thought of collecting some bon kochu (wild potatoes). While I was digging, I found something underneath and when I dug more I found a total of six such things (mortar shells) almost five feet under the surface."

An old village man said that there were a few military posts in that area during the World War II era and these shells might have been hidden when the military vacated the posts. On the other hand, police said that it was hard to identify these shells. Superintendent of Police of Golaghat, Pushpraj Singh said that there were no experts in the police force to exactly identify the mortar shells. "As these shells seem to be very old, even army experts may not be able to identify. Getting an authentic weapon history from the World War II period seems almost impossible," he said.    

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