Overview
- A private visitor using a metal detector uncovered a buried rusted shell in a Pankow woodland and alerted police, prompting a focused response in the Bucher Forst near Wiltbergstraße.
- Landeskriminalamt (LKA) specialists on site identified a total of 59 unexpended Soviet 122 mm artillery shells with an estimated combined weight of about 1.5 tonnes.
- Officers secured the area and the LKA’s explosive-ordnance teams recovered the ordnance piece by piece, packaged it safely and transported it off site for destruction.
- Police published details of the find on their Instagram account and repeatedly told the public there was never any danger to third parties during the operation.
- The case underscores that unexploded Second World War munitions remain a hazard in Berlin and that standard procedure is to cordon, secure, and move such caches to controlled disposal sites.