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Man held over bomb threats in Skåne

A 34-year-old man is being held by police on suspicion of making bomb threats against a number of addresses in Skäne, southern Sweden, among them the homes of police personnel and a prosecutor.

Man held over bomb threats in Skåne

A phone call was made to Skåne police just after 11am on Saturday when the caller issued bomb threats to four addresses in the region.

According to the Sydsvenskan newspaper the conversation included detailed information and named police staff and a prosecutor who the caller said would be blown up.

Bomb disposal experts were called in to inspect homes in Trelleborg, Vintrie, Skegrie and Tygelsjö and around 20 people were evacuated in the process.

”We took the calls seriously and cordoned off the buildings while bomb specialists investigated the areas,” Skåne police spokesperson Mikael Persson, told news agency TT.

A device was found at an apartment in Trelleborg but after an initial inspection police concluded it was neither charged or suspicious.

No further devices were found in connection with the investigation and evacuees were able to return to their homes late in the afternoon.

Sydsvenskan reports that motive behind the bomb is related to a recent court case in which the 34-year old was a complainant left dissatisfied with the verdict when the defendant was freed without charge.

Another man taken in for questioning was release by police on Saturday evening.

Although police believe the threats were serious, the homes will not remain under guard.

”At the moment we don’t have any reason to require such measures,” said officer Sven-Åke Johansson from Ystad police.

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WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation

A massive World War II bomb found in Germany's financial capital Frankfurt was safely detonated in the early hours of Thursday, the city's fire service said, allowing tens of thousands of evacuated residents to return to their homes.

WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation
Experts stand on mountains of sand, which were put in place to soften the force of the explosion of the WWII bomb in Frankfurt's Nordend. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Frank Rumpenhorst

The 500-kilogram unexploded bomb was unearthed during construction work on Wednesday in the densely populated Nordend area of the city, a location firefighters said made it a “particular challenge” to remove.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper reported the ordnance had been discovered right next to a children’s playground at a depth of about two metres (6.5 feet).

READ ALSO: What you need to know about WWII bomb disposals in Germany

Its report said the controlled blast, which happened just after midnight, “sounded like thunder rumbling” and left a hole three metres deep and ten metres wide.

Firefighters said that they had covered the bomb with 40 truckloads of sand before detonating it, in order to minimise damage to the surrounding buildings.

Around 25,000 people had been asked to evacuate the area, including the occupants of a nearby community hospital’s neonatal ward.

Among residents who took shelter at a skating rink was 29-year-old Tobias, carrying his pet cat in a cage.

He said he had heard the news over a police loudspeaker and been ordered to leave his home immediately, causing a “bit of stress”.

Barbara, 77, told AFP the news was “a bit of a shock, we don’t expect that”.

However, building works in Germany regularly unearth unexploded World War II ordnance, 76 years after the conflict’s end.

Seven bombs were defused in 2020 on land near Berlin where Tesla plans to build its first factory in Europe for electric cars.  

READ ALSO: WWII bomb in Frankfurt triggers 30m high water fountain

Other bombs were also discovered last year in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Dortmund.

In Frankfurt, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in 2017 led to the removal of 65,000 people, the biggest such evacuation in Europe since 1945.

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