Wednesday, 3 November 2004 - 11:00am |
Auckland City

Police concerned by Halloween pipe bombings

1 min read

Police want to locate the person responsible for blowing a letterbox off the side of a residential fence and demolishing a portaloo with two pipe bombs.

Around 9:30pm on Sunday night a letterbox in Epsom was flattened by an Improvised Explosive Device.

"The force of the explosion was such that the debris was scattered right across the road", said Detective Sergeant, Andrew King.

A short time later, around 10pm, a Portaloo toilet on Windmill Reserve was completely destroyed by a similar explosive.

"The force of this explosion smashed over 3 of its walls and debris, including the roof, was blown some distance".

Police believe, given the time of the year, the explosive itself may well be derived from fireworks.

"But it appears to have been packed in some form of metal container, possibly piping, making it potentially lethal if it was to have hit someone".

"Police that it is only a matter of luck that no one was injured as a result of these explosions. They were very powerful, and it being Halloween that night, there were still a number of people outside and on the street at the time".

Issued by:

Andi Devlin

Communications Assistant

Auckland City Police

0274-951-589