Numerous damaged marine flares have been found in Aberdeen.
A UK Coastguard team from Cruden Bay assisted police after bags of unexploded and expired munition were found in the city.
Now officers are reminding the public to responsibly dispose of these items, and said the flares posed “a significant risk to the public” before they were safely stored away.
A statement on the HM Coastguard website said: “Officers are trained to deal with these situations and the flares were catalogued, made safe, and transported in a secure container to our licenced site at Cruden Bay station.
“If you do come across distress flares remember, they are not fireworks and using them for anything other than an emergency situation is illegal and potentially very dangerous.
“Leaving flares to deteriorate in this way, or failing to dispose of them properly poses a significant risk to others.”
HM Coastguard is also reminding the public that its site at Cruden Bay has reopened to the public for the collection of non-commercial Time Expired Pyrotechnics (TEPs).