The M75 grenade (English: kashikara,
Serbian Latin
Gaj's Latin alphabet ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Gajeva latinica, separator=" / ", Гајева латиница}, ), also known as ( sh-Cyrl, абецеда, ) or ( sh-Cyrl, гајица, link=no, ), is the form of the Latin script used for writing Serb ...
: kašikara,
Serbian Cyrillic
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...
: кашикара) is a
Yugoslav hand grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...
, 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 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
Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives
or blastics.
Plastic explosives are especially suited for explos ...
. 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
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
, 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
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...
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).
Others were used by criminal families in England, including an attack that
killed two police officers in 2012.
In 2018, two M75 hand grenades were used in
Deurne (Antwerp). The attack is possibly linked to a drug war in Antwerp.
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 that come to disconnect his power for unpaid bills.
References
External links
BR-M75 Hand Grenade at Military & Police Training{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Fragmentation grenades
Hand grenades of Yugoslavia
Crime in Sweden
Crime in Manchester