Old military bomb left outside cop shop
Bomb squad experts have been called to Matamata where an old military practice bomb has been handed in to police.
What is understood to be the head of the old bomb was brought to the police station on Tui St on Monday morning.
Waikato police Senior Sergeant Greg Foster said the device was discovered in the garage of a home in Helensville, Auckland. A local woman then drove it from her parents’ Auckland home back to Matamata.
‘‘She has put it under a tree outside the station, which would have been closed at the time.’’ The woman then phoned the police Northern Communications Centre to alert them the item was there, he said.
The inert head of the air force practice bomb was believed to be an estimated 20-30 years old. It was wrapped in newspaper and left inside a cardboard box. Officers at the station photographed the device and sent it to the Auckland-based army bomb disposal team for identification.
‘‘On advice from the defence force police removed it and took it to the rear carpark of police station as not to inconvenience the public.’’ The disposal team were on their way to Matamata to remove the bomb.
‘‘Police will remain there and cordon off the area until the defence force get down and take it away, but there’s no risk to the public.’’ Foster said the discovery of old bombs was quite common, especially beneath houses around the Whangaparoa area of Auckland, near the RNZAF Base.