Bomb disposal team expected in the isles again

SPECIALISTS from the bomb disposal team are on their way to Shetland to deal with the ordnance find near Scatsta Airport.

Police cordoned off the area and closed the B9076 road on Thursday after the object was found during work laying new water mains along the road.

Police said it was too early say how the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team would neutralise the ordnance, which is believed to be a wartime pipe bomb from the time when Scatsta was an RAF airport.

The bomb disposal team is expected to assess the object in the morning before making a decision of how to dispose it.

Around 25 years ago Royal Engineers spent some time in Shetland to remove wartime bombs from Scatsta after it emerged that the runway of the former RAF airport was rigged with bombs ready to be detonated in case of a German invasion.

Ian Brown of Shetland Broadband has warned his customers in the north of Shetland that services might be disrupted for as long as 24 hours should the bomb disposal team decide to blow up the device. A fibre optic cable runs within 50 cm of the object.

It is the second time within a week that the bomb disposal team travel to Shetland. Last week they were alerted to an ordnance discovery at Hay’s Dock in Lerwick.