Bomb squad alert after chemicals found

POLICE raided at house in Wroxham at the weekend after receiving a tip-off about chemicals.

Officers spent the weekend searching the home in Norwich Road and a bomb disposal unit from Colchester was called to the scene following reports of chemicals found in a shed.

A 38-year-old man, who lives at the terraced house, was arrested at 2.15pm on Friday. Police were contacted around 1pm and are believed to have received a tip-off from elsewhere in the country. The man was released on bail over the weekend while police made further inquiries. Chemicals found there were taken away for further tests.

Neighbours said that the family, a man and a woman and two girls aged nine and 11, were Irish. They are thought to have lived there around 18 months.

Sylvia Adamczyk, 26, from Poland, who works at a care home and lives nearby, said police had told her they were going to look in the car belonging to the family. The red H-reg BMW with a black soft-top was always parked outside her house, she said.

Another neighbour said: “The police won't tell us anything. It's a bit of a pain having all this outside your house, especially when you see a bomb disposal truck.”

The police operation is being led by Norfolk's Major Investigation Team.

Forensic teams wearing gloves searched the house and took photographs, with police officers standing guard at the gate.

Police told neighbours that there was no need to be concerned. Although the bomb disposal unit arrived on Saturday morning and was still there several hours later, it is not thought that there was actually a bomb in the property.

A police spokesman said: “The priority of the police was to ensure the safety of the public… To support the investigations of the police, bomb disposal experts were also at the scene. ”

In January 2001 another house in Wroxham was sealed off after explosives were found on nearby Park Road. There was a series of controlled explosions but no one was ever charged.