Construction workers in Oslo made an unusual discovery while working on a rooftop Thursday afternoon. They spotted what appeared to be a military weapon in a nearby wooded area.
"We saw something that looked like a bazooka," said a 19-year-old worker involved in the discovery. He and his colleagues left their rooftop work site to investigate the object in the forest across the road.
The workers quickly realized the weapon was hollow inside and contained no functional components. They immediately placed the device on the ground and called police.
Police confirmed the discovery and identified the object as an American-made Javelin anti-tank weapon. Operations leader Gabriel Langfeldt stated the weapon had its key components removed, making it completely inoperable.
"This is not a functional weapon," Langfeldt emphasized. "There is no drama around this find since it cannot be used for anything."
Norwegian military forces have used Javelin weapons since 2010 for training exercises. Police currently believe the device may have been left behind or lost during military training activities.
"We don't yet know why it was lying there," Langfeldt explained. "Our current hypothesis is that this is a military weapon used during an exercise that may have been forgotten or lost."
Police have connected with bomb disposal experts and are conducting further investigations. They aim to determine exactly how and why the weapon ended up in a public forest area.
Military officials acknowledged they cannot confirm the weapon's origin based solely on photographs. They expressed interest in working with police to trace the object's history.
A defense communications chief described the found item as "completely harmless" in its current state. He noted it was merely a cover designed for single-use training purposes.
Neither police nor military officials would speculate about how the training weapon came to be abandoned in a public woodland. The incident raises questions about military equipment control procedures, even for training devices that appear dangerous to the public.
Finding military-grade equipment in civilian areas always warrants serious attention, regardless of whether the items are functional. Proper protocols should prevent training weapons from being left where random citizens might discover them.