The large training weapon that Jos Willems (71) from Best found on the Oirschotse Heide on Tuesday should not have been there. A Defense spokesperson said on Monday that the discovery of such a weapon is not unusual, but will comment on this on Tuesday. “This sloppiness is not expected from soldiers.”
Willems found the so-called Panzerfaust 3 on the Oirschotse Heide where he often walks, when Defense was still training. A Defense spokesperson told Omroep Brabant on Monday that this is not unusual: “We leave weapons lying around during an exercise if we practice something else without the weapon in between. We then pick them up again, but because they were still busy, it was still there.”
Still unusual
However, this turns out not to be entirely correct. Captain Dion Jansen, spokesperson for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, said on Tuesday that it is ‘very unusual’ to leave weapons behind. Also during an exercise.
“As soldiers, we have them with us or in our immediate vicinity at all times,” he says. “This carelessness is not expected from soldiers and we are happy that Jos did the right thing by reporting it immediately to the Royal Military Police.”
Why Defense has changed its mind has not been communicated to Omroep Brabant.
