LONDON, Ont. (CP) -- Two landmines found by a creek outside London popular with local kids were deliberately rigged and placed where they were found, experts say.
Bill Rawling, a former Canadian Forces reservist and military historian, says anti-tank mines that are filled with explosive material -- as is suspected with the two found between Strathroy and Mount Brydges -- don't float.
That would suggest somebody's tampered with the weapons.
Rawling also says it was strange that the landmines had what police thought were timers on them.
"I've never seen or heard of that before," said Rawling, of Ottawa. "That's usually a sign that it's an improvised device."
Police agree with his suspicion. Strathroy-Caradoc Sgt. Mike Overdulve said the flow of the river is too slow and the levels are too low to have carried the landmines downstream, and in one case, over the lip of a culvert.
"The weight of (the landmines) would make it very hard for me to believe that they would somehow come downstream," Overdulve said.
Police gathered no leads yesterday about who placed the landmines in the creek, or why they might have done so. The creek is known as a popular hangout for local kids.
"We're trying to determine how they arrived where they were," Overdulve said of the mines.
That question also was pondered by Rawling. "It's quite the mystery," he said.
It seems unlikely that a landmine could go missing from the arsenal of the Canadian Armed Forces without drawing scrutiny, Rawling said, "There would be an investigation on the spot," he said.
As the mines appeared rusty and dented, with little trace of the green paint typical of them today, Rawling suspects they aren't of recent vintage.
The mines do look like ones the Canadian Armed Forces used to train in the early 1980s, said Peter Eveleigh, another former reservist who lives in Montreal and was trained in disarming landmines.
A military investigation is underway, but it may be some time before they release a report.
"I don't expect hearing back from them soon," Overdulve said.
--London Free Press
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