Rocket man's $2.25 buy

SYDNEY - The Australian Army is investigating how a military rocket launcher ended up being bought by a civilian for A$2 ($2.25) after he found it dumped on the outskirts of a Queensland town.

James Maloney spotted it as he rummaged through his local recycling centre in Yeppoon. He then read newspaper accounts of the alleged theft of similar weapons from Army depots and gave it to a local reporter, who kept it for a few days while she wrote a story, before handing it into police yesterday.

Yeppoon is near a military training area at Shoalwater Bay. The weapon was a Singapore-made 90mm Matador anti-armour launcher. A Defence Department spokeswoman said: "It's not Australian ordnance. We're investigating where it came from and which force might have used it."

The launcher was most likely used by Singaporean or American troops during exercises. It posed no danger because it was a single-use "fire-and-forget" weapon which had already been discharged.