Police given more time to quiz two over parcel bombs

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Police given more time to quiz father and son over parcel bombs

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POLICE were last night given more time to question a father and son over parcel bombs to security chiefs and the Prime Minister.

The two men from Caernarfon were being quizzed in a London police station after explosives were sent to MI6’s HQ on London’s Albert Embankment.

A second parcel bomb addressed to 10 Downing Street was intercepted at a south London sorting office.

Yesterday police, specialist forensics officers and sniffer dogs were searching four properties in Caernarfon.

The pair, aged 52 and 21, are suspected of making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the first package was found last Wednesday and the second on Thursday.

The spokesman added: “Initial inquiries suggest their contents could have caused injury.”

The two were arrested in separate raids in a joint operation by the Metropolitan and North Wales police forces early on Friday morning.

They were driven to a central London police station where they were last night still being quizzed after magistrates at Westminster gave police an extension to hold them until 4am today.

The younger man was arrested at 6am on Friday at Ael-y-Garth, in the Twtil area of Caernarfon, while his father was arrested in nearby Hampton Road.

The house at Hampton Road belonged to the father and the other belonged to his ex-wife, where his son was staying.

A family relative said: “We don’t want to say anything.”

Dozens of Metropolitan police detectives and forensic officers carried out a thorough search of both properties.

Yesterday detectives had left the house at Ael-y-Garth but continued searching the house at Hampton Road as well as two other properties, a former garage at the back of Hill Street and a house at Church Street in the centre of Caernarfon.

The two are believed to be owned by the older man.

There were around a dozen forensic officers emptying the contents of drawers and boxes taken from the lock-up garage before bagging them up to be taken for tests.

Sniffer dogs were also used.

Local Gwynedd county councillor Ioan Thomas said: “It has come as a very great shock to us here.

“The implications of someone in the area having explosives is very disturbing. You just don’t expect it. To hear about a crime of this nature is very worrying.”

Locals in the closely-knit community were both shocked and amazed at the sight of dozens of police in the streets.

One, Dorothy Ward, said: “It’s a great shock.”

One local man in Hampton Road said: “Nobody can believe it. They’ve even been looking inside the plastic in the window frames.”

In Church Street, a neighbour said: “Police bashed the door down last night. There were a few police around yesterday. They've been here two days now. I don’t really know what’s going on.”

Assistant Chief Constable, Gareth Pritchard, said: "North Wales Police officers have been working with the Metropolitan Police Service since early Friday morning when two men were arrested in Caernarfon under Section 4 of the Explosives Act. The men are currently being interviewed at a central London police station.

"Properties in Caernarfon are being searched and although the investigation is ongoing we do not believe that people living close to any of these premises are in any danger."