Dozens of misplaced anti-tank mines end up in IKEA
Imagine strolling into IKEA for a new bedframe and walking out with an anti-tank mine.
Well, this is what almost happened in Poland after a cargo of mines was misplaced and ended up in the warehouse of the budget furniture retailer.
They were being transported by rail from the eastern town of Hajnowka, near the border with Belarus, to an ammunition depot in the Mosty village in the west.
The load of 240 mines was not completely offloaded when it arrived and dozens of mines were lost.
Officials apparently became aware of the problem only when someone from IKEA called them to ask ‘when they would collect their mines.’
The mishap happened between July 4 and 7, and the ammunition was discovered at the warehouse more than a week later.
High-ranking Polish army general, Artur Kępczynski, has been sacked amid the blunder, the ministry of defence announced.
Four soldiers could also been facing up to five years in prison for ‘neglect of duty’.
A spokesperson for the district prosecutor’s office in the city of Poznan, Lukasz Wawrzyniak, said: ‘The suspects are four soldiers, the case concerns neglect of duty regarding the unloading of a transport of munitions… (they face) up to five years of imprisonment.
‘None of the suspects have pleaded guilty.’
IKEA Industry Poland CEO Malgorzata Dobies-Turulska confirmed that the army had picked up the explosives from one of the wagons that arrived at a warehouse belonging to IKEA Industry Orla.
‘The box was collected by the military police on the same day. Cooperation with the military police went very smoothly,’ she said.
Poland’s defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said all appropriate actions were taken after the incident.
‘Civilian supervision played a key role in this matter…’ he told private radio RMF on Friday.
‘First, security procedures, explanatory procedures, corrective actions related to preparation, training, sending appropriate inspections and drawing personnel conclusions.’
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