Anti-terror police confirm bombs were found at empty Harlesden flat

Specialist anti-terror police are investigating after two improvised explosive devices were discovered at a flat in Harlesden .

Craven Park was evacuated and cordoned off by police at 9am on Wednesday (November 21) after the suspicious devices were found in an unoccupied flat that was being refurbished.

The block of flats was evacuated and specialist officers determined they were both improved explosive devices.

The explosives were made safe before being removed from the flat, and specialists are forensically examining them as part of the counter-terror investigation.

Police have now given the area the all-clear after further searches in and around the block of flats, though the Met Police’s specialist Counter Terrorism Command has been called in to lead the investigation.

At 6pm, after nearly nine hours, residents were allowed to return to their homes.

Chief Superintendent Simon Rose, of the Met’s North West Command Unit, thanked residents for their patience and understanding.

He said: “The public’s safety is our top priority, and I would like to pay tribute to the specialist officers who attended and were able to safely recover the devices.

“I also want to reassure the local community that we have carried out precautionary searches in the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing else of a similar nature nearby, which I’m pleased to confirm is the case.

“The next stage is to investigate how and why the two devices came to be in this flat and detectives from the Counter Terrorism Command will be leading this.”

Police are still guarding the flat where the explosives were found, as the investigation continues, and investigators are said to be keeping an open mind as to how or why the explosives came to be in the flat.

Detectives are appealing for anyone with information to contact them by calling 0800 789 321.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

No arrests have been made and enquiries continue.