Showing Translation App Leads to Terror Alert... Pomegranate Translated as Suryutan (Grenade)

Terror Alert Causes Chaos in Lisbon, Portugal
Russian Word 'Sekryu' Translated as 'Grenade'

A foreign tourist traveling in Portugal caused a terror alert to be issued after a translation app mistakenly translated pomegranate as 'grenade' when he tried to order pomegranate juice at a local restaurant.

A tourist Mr. A being arrested by the police at a restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal.
[Photo by X (formerly Twitter)]

According to reports from major media on the 30th of last month (local time), a 36-year-old male tourist A from Azerbaijan, who was visiting Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, visited a restaurant in the city center.

Not knowing Portuguese, A tried to communicate with the restaurant staff using a translation app on his smartphone. He entered 'pomegranate juice' into the app and showed it to the staff. Upon seeing that the Portuguese translation was 'grenade,' the staff immediately reported A to the police.

Immediately after the report, a terror alert was issued in the area, and five armed police officers were dispatched to the scene, ordering the man to lie down. The man was handcuffed and forcibly taken for questioning. The police also searched the hotel room where the man was staying.

Videos released by local media show that A was arrested in the restaurant's outdoor parking lot, where five armed officers ordered him not to move and to lie on the ground before handcuffing him.

It was revealed that the man was not carrying any weapons, including grenades. According to the Portuguese police, the Azerbaijani man had entered 'pomegranate' in Russian into the translation app when ordering. Azerbaijanis, being part of the former Soviet sphere, have a high proficiency in Russian. In Russian, pomegranate (Гранат) and grenade (Граната) are synonyms. In other words, it was mistakenly translated as grenade instead of pomegranate in Portuguese.

Early grenade models resembled pomegranates... English term also influenced by 'pomegranate'

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Photo by Pixabay

The reason why pomegranate and grenade share the same meaning in Russian is closely related to the history of grenades. Modern grenades resemble pineapples, but in the early 17th century when grenades were first widely used in warfare, they were round containers filled with explosives and iron fragments, resembling pomegranate fruit.

Also, the English word for grenade, 'grenade,' derives from 'pomegranate.'

Foreign media reporting on the incident noted that it occurred amid heightened awareness of terror threats across Europe. They also reported that since the government raised the terror threat level last month, police and anti-terror units have been maintaining a high state of alert throughout Portugal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.