A 19-year-old roofing technician got the shock of his life during a routine workday in Oslo. Rasmus Severin Møller and his colleagues spotted something unusual in the woods near Hauketo on Thursday afternoon.
"I was absolutely terrified. My heart started racing and everything," Møller said in an interview. He described how a coworker noticed something down a slope that looked like a bazooka.
Møller immediately warned his colleagues to put the object down. He called police right away, though he says officers took two hours to arrive and seemed skeptical at first.
When police finally came, they collected the weapon and searched the surrounding forest. Officers found additional components including a missile casing and end cap.
Oslo police operations leader Gabriel Langfeldt confirmed the discovery of a Javelin anti-tank weapon in the Hauketo area. He stated the weapon had been rendered inoperable with critical components removed.
Both the bomb disposal unit and Norwegian Defense Forces were notified about the find. Police received the alert at 2:30 PM local time.
Investigators are considering several theories about how the military equipment ended up in a suburban Oslo forest. Langfeldt suggested it might have been left behind from training exercises, stolen, or simply used by someone "playing in the woods."
Defense officials later clarified the object was actually empty packaging from a live rocket. Communications chief Vegard Norstad Finberg described it as "harmless garbage" containing no dangerous components.
Finberg explained that if serial numbers can be recovered, the military could trace the packaging back to its original unit. He acknowledged the discovery might appear alarming to civilians despite posing no actual threat.
The roofing technician eventually saw the humor in his unusual workday. "It turned out to be a funny day at work," Møller laughed, noting his relief upon learning the object was harmless.
This incident highlights ongoing concerns about military equipment security in Norway, even when dealing with what officials consider mere trash.