Suspected bomb secured

An object police believe to be a pipe bomb has been secured by the bomb squad. The pipe bomb was taken away while police conducted further investigations, said Waikato district command centre Senior Sergeant Will Loughrin. ‘‘The bomb squad have taken an item away, suspected to be a pipe bomb,’’ Loughrin said. A beachgoer came across the pipe bomb on Thursday afternoon, on rocks at the northern end of Waih¯ı Beach in the Bay of Plenty and called police. Police and local fire crews established a cordon and waited for the bomb squad to arrive from Auckland – 150km away. ‘‘At 1.20pm a member of the public called police after locating what they believed to be a pipe bomb,’’ Loughrin said. Cordons had been lifted. ‘‘The matter has been resolved. An object has been taken away believed to have been a pipe bomb.’’