THE NATIONAL Guard has continued to store aged, obsolete and useless munitions in a residential area, almost a month after announcing their destruction it emerged yesterday.
An unknown quantity of Bofors 40 mm shells, whose gun is no longer in service in Cyprus, is due to be destroyed (as of Monday) but incredibly they are still being stored in the village of Palodhia, near Limassol yesterday.
A defence ministry statement said yesterday that the destruction of “Obsolete and useless” munitions would begin at the Ayia Fyla firing range on Monday.
The announcement came a month after the defence ministry said 128,000 of the same type Bofors rounds – which had been deemed dangerous – were due to be destroyed.
According to National Guard sources, the most dangerous of last month’s 128,000 were separated out and destroyed, while those that have been deemed safe remain in storage.
Asked why the National Guard chose to store them in a residential area, the source explained that new housing developments had encroached on the depot, and there was a general shortage of space on the island.
It is understood that the current stock at Palodhia is comprised of these safer munitions and others brought in from various depots around the island.
Such reassurances are unlikely to calm Palodhia residents, however, who are understandably wary after the catastrophic Evangelos Florakis naval base explosion, which followed several National Guard assurances that the stored munitions were harmless.
Fortunately, for the National Guard, help is at hand: A team of British munitions experts are now cooperating with them to complete the weapons’ destruction.
The British High Commission said yesterday that the experts had visited the ordnance depot in Palodhia, and would shortly begin destruction of the aging and obsolete munitions.
UK Defence Adviser, Colonel Robert Polley said that this was “another example of the close bilateral cooperation between the two countries.”
Regarding the timing of the demolitions, the Defence Ministry said: “The National Guard will inform the local authorities and residents in the area of days and hours of the destruction” which it said would consist of “of small-intensity explosions.”
