Salisbury city centre was evacuated for four hours today after reports of a ‘credible’ bomb threat inside a post office.
The suspicious package was reported at 2.45pm near the Cross Keys shopping centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Shops were emptied, nearby homes evacuated and a cordon put in place while an expert bomb squad investigated.
Despite ‘chaotic’ scenes in the city centre police stood down just before 7pm, claiming it ‘was not a viable threat.’
Salisbury city centre was cordoned off after reports of a bomb inside a post office today
The emergency services seized the suspicious package, taking it away in a van, promising a full investigation into how it got there.
A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: ‘The cordon around Salisbury’s Cross Keys shopping centre has now been lifted.
‘The cordon was put in place this afternoon after a suspicious package was reported to have been found in the post office nearby.
‘EOD attended the scene and a cordon was put in place, affecting nearby roads in and out of the city.
‘The package was not a viable threat but has been seized while an investigation surrounding the circumstances is carried out.
‘An investigation will now be carried out into the incident.’
Inspector Pete Sparrow added: ‘It is important that incidents of this nature are treated as a credible threat – the public’s safety must always remain our priority.
Shops were emptied, nearby homes evacuated and a cordon (pictured) put in place while an expert bomb squad investigated
‘I’d like to thank the public for their cooperation during this afternoon’s incident.
‘I’d also like to extend a thank you to all local businesses, especially Bills restaurant and the Cathedral hotel who have assisted greatly, as well as the Salisbury Reds bus company who assisted in moving people out of the area.
‘It’s really important during incidents of this nature that the public are following our official social media channels – this has played a vital part in today’s incident in getting important messages out to the public.’
Locals took to Twitter to express their shock over the incident, which saw a 100m cordon put down in the city centre.
One person tweeted: ‘Bomb threat at post office, the whole square has been evacuated – be safe everyone!’
Another said: ‘Salisbury bomb threat: People are now being forced to leave the 100metre cordon zone as the voluntary evacuation has now been changed to mandatory evacuation.’
One local described the scene as ‘chaos’.
Despite ‘chaotic’ scenes in the city centre police stood down just before 7pm, claiming it ‘was not a viable threat’