Nicosia - Red-faced army bosses in Cyprus came under fire at the weekend after secret ground plans of military installations were found in a rubbish dump.
Authorities have launched an enquiry into how the documents came to be discarded at a landfill, only to be found on Friday by a curious lorry driver who alerted TV stations.
Local media said the papers contain details ranging from technical specifications for weapons launch sites to the thickness of walls at sentry posts dotted along the island's tensely-guarded ceasefire line.
Defence officials tried to play down the incident: "The documents are not important," said Defence Minister Koullis Mavronicolas.
But President Tassos Papadopoulos did not appear so easily convinced. "It's regrettable if it's true," he told reporters.
Cyprus has been divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek Cypriot coup and authorities are normally fiercely protective of safeguarding state secrets.
Approaching a sentry post with a camera in hand can earn the uninitiated a couple of hours of police questioning.
But somewhat unconventional disposal methods have left authorities with egg on their faces before.
Last year reporters stumbled across documents containing state secrets in bin liners discarded outside the health ministry.
A cleaner was blamed.