A firearm was found this afternoon during dredging work in the Ringvaart near the Oude Haagsebrug in Badhoevedorp. The weapon is being examined. In recent weeks, several explosives and weapons from the Second World War have been found at the same location.
The ball started rolling during preparatory work for the demolition of the Old Hague Bridge, just before Christmas. Because the bridge’s pillars must be easily accessible before demolition, the Aalsmeer company Otto Waterbouwkundig Werken dredged the area around the bridge.
In addition to sludge, ammunition from the Second World War also came up. From the newsletter (#7) from the project team it appears that it involved ‘various bullet cartridges and a landmine’. Because of the find, it was not safe to continue dredging and a plan was made to carefully comb the bottom of the Ringvaart there.
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That specialist search started at the beginning of January and has indeed yielded even more WWII weapons, says Jochem van Leeuwen, owner of Otto Waterwerken. “Ammunition, machine guns and landmines,” he lists.
“There are certified specialists who handle it and we give all heavy explosives to the EOD (Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service, ed.). Coincidentally, the EOD came this morning to collect some. It has now been detonated.”
Forensic detection
A police spokesperson confirms that a firearm has been found, but cannot say what type of firearm it is. “It has been handed over to forensics, who will investigate it.”
What she can confirm is that the police were not looking for this firearm. The spokesperson cannot say why this firearm is treated differently than the recently found WWII weapons and ammunition.
No delay
The specialist dredging job does not cause any delays the work of the Oude Haagse Brug, the demolition of which will start next Monday. “We are now only deploying the large cranes a little later,” the spokesperson said. “But we still start on Monday.”