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police visit during the night

W

ww1grenades

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last night i was visited by the local constabulary due to a parcel i had posted earlier that day the package contained a sectioned mills No36 grenade . the officers said the post offices are x-raying all packages now due to the olympics and the royal wedding they also stated that no ordnance is allowed to be posted . they did mention that the royal mail can provide a specail code to put on the package to allow it to be posted . has any one heard of this . they also said that im on the police database as a collector of grenades and said if i wasnt they would of problies smashed my doors in on an early morning raid . the officers who attended were ok they were amazed how many differant types & shapes & sizes there were . to stop this from happening again what advice do you the other members have and whould like to here of other members stories of similar happenings .

thanks shaun
 
We are all profiled by the police on this site, quite a few members will be police also...... Dave
 
I've posted quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. Better prepare for my door to go in at around 0600ish then
 
i thought something else more serious had happened when i opened the door and saw the 2 of them stood there .when they said about the package what a relief pheeewwwwww . i wouldnt care i was only passing the package on to the correct address as it was sent to me by accident . well there only doing there job . but shows one thing that the royal mail are watching out for these types of items . i heard that a while ago about the profiling but im not bothered about that as im not doing anything illegal . but there are some nutters out there . pointblank i dont mind them wanting to check them now and again i just dont want my door smashing in . but the 2 offices who attended were polite and good to talk to

shaun
 
I havn't had any problems or heard of this,so thanks for the heads up.
So what happens if you havn't put a return address with the parcel? does the person at the other end have their door go in at 6.00 ish?
So have they changed the law regarding posting inert ordnance with in the UK just because of the olympics and a Royal wedding?
Could understand this to addresses local to these events but not a 'blanket' all over the UK
Cheers
Tony
 
Interesting topic Shaun,
Are you registered with a collectors certificate?,for instance a FAC with variation to collect ammo? I was about to post my application last year on the day that the taxi driver went mad up the lake district last year...i just tore it up and binned it..

best

waff
 
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"the 2 offices who attended were polite and good to talk to"

We're lucky over here to have a large percentage of our Police forces staffed by military veterans. Being of that bent, it is very easy to carry on with them in both personal and "official" contact. With regards to our hobby, I could only hope that a "veteran" Police officer was the interviewer if questions were needing answering. Personally, they couldn't pay me enough to put up with what they do on a daily basis.

Rick
 
Thanks Rick. Kind words to all of us that have ever been "On The Job". Thank You.
 
So have they changed the law regarding posting inert ordnance with in the UK just because of the olympics and a Royal wedding?
Could understand this to addresses local to these events but not a 'blanket' all over the UK
Cheers
Tony
It's never been legal to post inert ordnance through the mail system,it's just not been heavily enforced.
 
Ive just looked at royal mails website and it says import and export of inert grens ,shells etc is not permitted but posting withing the uk is, but may come under closer scrutiny than a normal parcel.
Might be a good idea to start using couriers who are not so fussy.
Cheers, Paul.
 
Anything that raises a red flag these days will be pulled and the police and bomb disposal will be called out.
 
There has been discussion on previous threads regarding profiling. Sadly international events over the years have made profiling a logical and viable counter-terrorism tool. The country is on "severe" threat level and I would fully support any actions by Royal Mail or other agency that help to keep my country safe. Also in previous threads we have discussed the fact that there will in many cases be residual traces of HE fillings in what are deemed to be FFE items. Such traces can and will be detected by screening devices.
Provided that we ( the enforcing side) dont take any misguided, heavy handed, action when following up suspect postal items then we should perhaps be thankful of the vigilance.
It sounds as though the incident with the sectioned grenade was dealt with appropriately. I would query the concept of being put on a database. There may now be local intelligence records relating to the incident but you have not gotr a criminal record from the matter and you kept your collection.
Good result all round.
 
A very intresting site Dave and it gets more intresting as you explore it,released documents from WW2 ect and it would seem we have been on this current threat level since 24th September 2010!

Cheers
Tony
 
I am also curious about this database you were told that you were on. Do the police have a database of collectors that they maintain somehow, and how do they find out who to put on it? With police forces facing spending cuts like many other areas, I would think they would struggle to find time, manpower and funds to maintain this database.

Also, I do wonder about the post being x-rayed. The cost and amount of time associated with X-Raying every parcel would be very high.
 
I think that the database issue has been misconstrued. As I said in my last post, it is more likely that a computer based intelligence report has been submitted. Computer based intell systems are searchable usually only by individual police forces as they are "stand alone" systems. Intel can be searched using various parameters such as names or addreeses. I can put my hand on my heart and say that there is no collectors database. The nearest thing is the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) which is the firearm/shotgun/explosives certificate database and admin ssytem. If you dont have a certificate then ( with certain exceptions) you wont appear on this system.
 
Hi Falcon,
I would imagine it would be fairly simple to connect a face to a collector on sites such as this via your computers IP address????
Royal mail do X-ray parcels,I have had many delivered with the bright orange sticker put on by Royal Mail stateing "DO NOT FLY THIS ITEM/BAG CONTAINS GOODS THAT ARE NOT PERMITTED TO FLY SEND BY SURFACE MAIL ONLY" i also receive far more that have not been x-rayed,so this would suggest that only a percentage are being x-rayed.
Saying this I have never had a parcel opened by the Royal Mail(or any other body) as yet which in turn it would also point out that sending inert ordnance via Royal Mail within the UK IS legal and it is NOT a forgone conclusion that suspect parcels are automaticly seized by the police and blown up by EOD

Tony
 
So this suggests that ww1grenades has had contact with the police before this incident for some reason, and was therefore recorded by his local police force as a grenade collector. Is this correct?
 
In these days of global terror, intelligence is gathered from many sources. It is quite probable that an agency such as Royal Mail can pass intel to the police/security services regarding the nature of items being sent/received at a specified address. It is for the police etc to assess intel and act accordingly. I would suggest that if ww1grenades was subject of an intel operation then it has been conducted proportionatly - no armed officers, no intimate search, no destruction of collection. If the address is now on local intel then it may avoid unwanted intervention of mail and unwelcome house calls in the future.
 
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