STONED POT HEADS WERE LIKELY RETURNING MOTAR ROUND TO PEARL HARBOR

Trio with mortar round at Pearl Harbor released

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

Associated Press
January 15, 2020

HONOLULU — A mortar round was found in a vehicle at a gate to the sprawling Pearl Harbor military base, shutting down the base for hours and leading three people to be taken into custody, military officials said Wednesday.

It's not clear what the trio planned to do or where they wanted to go when they were stopped late Tuesday, base spokesman Charles Anthony said, but added, "I don't think their intention was to get on base."

A mortar is a portable weapon that is loaded and fired by dropping an exploding shell into a tube. Anthony said there was no explosive material inside the round and no firing device in the car.

It was an “inert training round,” Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman Jeff Houston said in an email.

"NCIS does not believe that terrorism played any role in the gate incident yesterday and we don't believe there is any threat to the community," he wrote Wednesday.

The vehicle's occupants were released Wednesday. No information was available about them, and it's not clear if they will face charges.

Bringing weapons or ordnance onto the base requires coordinating with security, Anthony said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily mail reports that a guard at the gate noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the car and found the mortar round when he looked inside. All three occupants appeared to be high on marijuana.