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Man arrested after bomb threat shuts train station

A man in his early twenties has been arrested on suspicion of calling in a bomb threat on Monday that prompted the evacuation of the central train station in Östersund, northern Sweden.

“The bomb squad has scanned the area and has not encountered any dangerous objects,” said Östersund police spokesperson Helena Hroh to the TT news agency.

The station was cordoned off and all rail traffic to and from the station was shut down during the day after the bomb threat was called into to the SOS Alarm emergency services at 9.15am on Monday morning.

According to the man, the bomb would “go off within two hours” after his call.

Bomb technicians and a bomb-sniffing dog were sent to Östersund by helicopter from Stockholm, a distance of some 460 kilometres.

Meanwhile, traffic in the centre of town near the station came to a complete standstill, as experts investigated the scene.

Just before 7pm, the police confirmed that the area was safe and the cordons were lifted.

The person suspected to have called in with the threat has been arrested.

“We have a man in his early 20s who is now arrested. He is suspected of making an aggravated false alarm,” said Hroh to TT.

Hroh gave no further details concerning the man’s arrest, and would not confirm how the man was tracked down by police.

Police are expected to release more information soon.

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BOMB

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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