'Oh yes, it's been in the family for years'

VANCOUVER - An amnesty programme designed to reduce the number of illegal and unwanted guns in British Columbia has also turned up an unexpected weapon - a rocket launcher.

An elderly Vancouver woman turned in the weapon that she and her husband had kept hidden in their attic after discovering it while renovating their house in 1973, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

The couple had been too afraid to tell anyone about the weapon earlier.

The month-long programme has produced more than 1000 firearms in its first three weeks.

- REUTERS