Hot potato, hot potato...

Hot potato: Russian farmer convicted of planting explosives to protect crop

02-12-2010 08:31 AM PST

MOSCOW (Associated Press) --

A farmer in Russia's Far East has been handed a suspended prison sentence for planting explosives in his field to ward off potato thieves.

The RIA Novosti news agency says 73-year-old Alexander Skopintsev made three tripwire-tethered explosives loaded with salt to ward off trespassers after several spud-snatchings in June 2009.

A neighbor suffered a lip injury after triggering one of the devices at the farm in the Primorye region.

The news agency says Skopintsev pleaded guilty to the illegal storage and production of explosives, but complained that the neighbor should not have stepped onto his land.