Man arrested over South Shields explosives alert
A man has been arrested after police concerns about possible explosives in a Tyneside flat led to neighbouring homes being evacuated.
Up to 100 people were advised to leave their homes in Lake Avenue in South Shields in the early hours of Friday.
Although no explosives were found, army bomb disposal experts destroyed one as-yet unidentified item in the property.
A number of other items, including a homemade stun gun were seized. The 38-year-old man remains in police custody.
'Lot of disruption'
Residents were allowed back into their homes late on Friday after spending the day at a nearby leisure centre.
Supt Brad Howe said: "First of all I would like to thank local residents for their patience during this incident, I know there has been a lot of disruption for them and I would like to assure them we did not do this without giving a great deal of thought to the impact this would have on them.
"We have been working closely with our colleagues at South Tyneside Council to try and keep this disruption minimal and to make sure there was support for residents who were directly affected by this.
"While initially it appeared there may have been suspected improvised explosive devices in the premises this has proved not to be the case and devices of this nature were not found. Other items were seized which included what is believed to be a homemade 'taser'."