M75 hand grenade

M-75 anti-personnel hand grenade
The picture shows both the grenade and its plastic transportation can.
TypeHand grenade
Place of originYugoslavia
Service history
WarsYugoslav Wars, Grenade attacks in Sweden
Production history
VariantsM93 (Macedonia)
Specifications
Mass335 g (11.8 oz)
Length89 g (3.1 oz)
Diameter57 mm (2.2 in)
FillingPlastic explosive
Filling weight33 g (1.2 oz)

The M75 grenade (English: kashikara, Serbian Latin: kašikara, Serbian Cyrillic: кашикара) is a Yugoslav hand grenade,[1] efficient in trenches, forests and bunkers. The grenade consists of a body, an explosive charge and "mouse trap" style fuse mechanism, all contained in a plastic transportation can.

The core contains 3,000 steel balls with a diameter of 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.118 in) with an effective killing radius of 12–18 m (39–59 ft), and a casualty radius of 30–54 m (98–177 ft). The explosive charge is 36–38 g (1.3–1.3 oz) of plastic explosive. The fuse, named "bušon" in Serbian, has a delay time of 3 to 4.4 seconds. Its name comes from the Turkish word for a spoon, "kašika". In American English, the lever of the grenade is colloquially known as the "spoon". The M-75 hand grenade was also produced in Macedonia, where it is designated M-93.

Use by criminal gangs in England, Sweden and Belgium

A shipment of leftover grenades of this type (and the M-93) from the Yugoslav Wars was taken to Sweden and sold for as little as 20 kronor to organised criminals and street gangs, who have been using them in numerous attacks since 2008 (ongoing as of 2018).[2][3]

Others were used by criminal families in England, including an attack that killed two police officers in 2012.[4]

In 2018, two M75 hand grenades were used in Deurne, Antwerp. The attack is possibly linked to a drug war in Antwerp.[5]

In 2021, one M75 hand grenade was used in Pakrac, Croatia. Milorad Arsenić, a former member of Serbian paramilitary forces in Croatia[citation needed] attacked three employees of Croatian power company HEP that came to disconnect his power for unpaid bills.[6][7]

In 2023, one M75 hand grenade was used in the ethnically-mixed 'Bosniak Neighborhood' in North Mitrovica, Kosovo. A car was damaged, in what minister of interior Xhelal Sveçla claimed to be an attack by criminal structures in reaction to the arrest of 3 ethnic Serbs in the town of Vushtrri, suspected of war crimes in the Kosovo War.[8]

The M75 was used during a gang war in Germany's Stuttgart region in 2023. During a funeral of a gang member at the cemetery of Altbach near Esslingen, a member of a rival gang threw one M75 at the mourners. The grenade bounced of a tree branch, throwing it off course, and exploded in a free area, still leaving 15 people injured.[9]

In 2024, an M75 hand grenade exploded at a party in Knin, Croatia, killing a 25-year-old man and injuring four others.[10]


References

  1. ^ "Rucna granata "Kasikara"". Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  2. ^ Olofsson, Diana (31 July 2015). "Billigare att köpa handgranat än en glass" [Cheaper to buy a hand grenade than an ice cream]. SVT (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Malmö värst drabbat av sprängningar i hela Skandinavien" [Malmö worst hit by explosions in the whole Scandinavia] (in Swedish). Sydsvenskan. 23 July 2015. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Grenade stash in Oldham drain - BBC News - 13 June 2013". BBC News. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  5. ^ "'Granaten gebruik je toch alleen in oorlog?'" [Grenades are only used in war, right?]. De Standaard (in Flemish). Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  6. ^ Vedran Balen (27 January 2021). "Detalji o napadaču iz Pakraca: Zašto je bacio bombu na HEP-ovce? Čujte, bio je težak čovjek..." [Details about the attacker from Pakrac: Why did he throw a grenade at HEP workers? Listen, he was a difficult man...]. Večernji list (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  7. ^ Antonela Šaponja (27 January 2022). "Na radnike HEP-a muškarac iz Pakraca bacio je ručnu bombu: Osudili ga na 12 godina zatvora" [A man from Pakrac threw a hand grenade at HEP workers: He was sentenced to 12 years in prison]. 24sata.hr (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Sveçla: Shpërthimi në veri, hakmarrje për arrestimin e tre serbëve për krime lufte" [Sveçla: The explosion in the north, revenge for the detainment of three Serbs accused of war crimes]. Koha Ditore (in Albanian). 22 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  9. ^ Mayer-Rüth, Oliver; Nabben, Benedikt; Föhr, Lukas (30 January 2024). "Bandenkriminalität im Südwesten - Das Ländle und die Gangs" [Gang crime in the southwest - The Ländle and the gangs]. Tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Na zabavi u Kninu eksplodirala bomba, poginuo mladić (25), četvero mladih ranjeno" [A bomb exploded at a party in Knin, killing a young man (25), injuring four others]. Index.hr (in Croatian). 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.