Police find ‘suspicious device’ in Devon following London Tube terror alert
A suspicious device has been found at an address in Devon by police as part of a counter-terrorism investigation following a security alert at a London Tube station this week. Officers discovered the item after they searched a property on Tudor Road in Newton Abbot yesterday and evacuated the surrounding area. The police cordon around the address was lifted at around 6pm and police said the device was “not viable”.
On Thursday, a controlled detonation was carried out on a suspicious object found on a train at North Greenwich station, close to the O2 complex in south-east London. The station was evacuated at around 11am after the item was found and it remained shut for several hours as specialist teams worked to make the item safe. No details about the device have been officially released but reports suggested it was handed to a Tube driver and contained wires and possibly a clock.
A 19-year-old suspect remains in police custody following the incident. A Taser stun gun was discharged but no shots were fired as the suspect was arrested in the street on Holloway Road in north London on Friday. Devon and Cornwall Police said they were working with the Metropolitan Police to deal with the item at the scene. Football games at nearby Baker's Park in Newton Abbot were abandoned so police helicopters could land on the pitch.
Local resident Connor Bain told the Exeter Express and Echo: “Hearing of a bomb nearby is a bit of a shock, we haven't been told how long we will be evacuated for. I don't know who lives in the house.”
Customers and staff at The Jolly Abbot pub were stuck inside the building after police warned them if they left the cordoned area they wouldn't be allowed back in.
Since August 2014, the terror threat level in Britain has been classed as “severe” – the second highest level, meaning an attack is considered “highly likely”. Police in London said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the suspected device in North Greenwich.