M75 hand grenade

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.

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
Mass335g
Length89mm
Diameter57mm
FillingPlastic explosive
Filling weight33g

The core contains 3,000 steel balls with a diameter of 2.5–3 mm with an effective killing radius of 12–18 m, and a casualty radius of 30–54 m. The explosive charge is 36–38 grams 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, an earlier member of Serbian paramilitary forces in Croatia attacked three employees of Croatian power company HEP. [6]

References
  1. http://republikasrpska.forumotion.net/forum-f13/topic-t35.htm
  2. Olofsson, Diana (31 July 2015). "Billigare att köpa handgranat än en glass". SVT (in Swedish).
  3. "Malmö värst drabbat av sprängningar i hela Skandinavien". Sydsvenskan. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  4. Grenade stash in Oldham drain - BBC News - 13 June 2013
  5. "'Granaten gebruik je toch alleen in oorlog?'". De Standaard (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  6. "'Bombaški napad na radnike HEP-a'".

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