Actually, this time they are Russian munitions !

One should be extremely careful when contracting for building supplies. Specifically sand, and more importantly, where that sand came from.

Over the last 10-day period, folks from Tallinn to private residences in Nõmme have called the 112 center reporting they have large UXO in their construction sites and/or yards.

Mere coincidence ? Hardly. Turns out the same construction company that was excavating Sand in Saku County was also providing the same sand to its customers throughout Estonia. On 25 September, seven artillery projectiles were reported and subsequently removed from four different sand excavation sites in Saku County. Following those finds, EOD technicians performed a mechanical sweep uncovering 43 more projectiles. Historical documents indicate that these sites in Saku were former Red Army ammunition dumps.

The UXOs found in Estonia are largely a direct result of combat actions during World War II. Russian and German forces and their battle lines frequently changed during the war. As a result, each side in the conflict buried large caches of ordnance. Such caches are found on a routine basis during planned de-mining/excavations as well as new construction projects, both in the city as well as the countryside. Estimates of densities number in the hundreds of thousands based upon excavations as well as data recordings conducted by Estonian de-mining teams.

It has been established that Estonia’s Männiku Forest (six kilometers south of Tallinn) contains the third largest concentration of discovered and recorded UXO. During a one-week clearance operation, de-miners removed more than 240 mines and 1,280 UXO.

Between 1 January and 30 September 2007, more than 5,200 UXO have been cleared and destroyed. Estonia’s highest recorded year was 1997, with more than 10,000 UXO cleared following a USG Humanitarian De-mining training and equipment donation program.

Under Estonian law, a UXO is classified as being 20mm or larger in diameter and containing explosives. Training rounds and empty projectiles are not included.

A bit of press coverage here