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Police operation in Saxony-Anhalt (symbolic image)
Photo: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
There was a major police operation in Halle (Saale) on Saturday afternoon due to suspicions that bombs were being built in an apartment. The matter is currently being examined and specialists are on duty, said a police spokesman. Since a danger could not be ruled out, more than 50 residents were evacuated from their homes, the police said in the evening. The “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung” first reported on it.
According to police reports, the officers were informed by eyewitnesses around 11:30 a.m. that a 36-year-old man was making racist comments from an apartment building on Schlosserstrasse and threatening passers-by with a rifle. When the man's apartment was checked, the weapon turned out to be a toy gun. According to police, the drunken suspect was arrested.
In addition, the officers found several suspicious objects in the man's apartment, whereupon an explosives detection dog and forces from the State Criminal Police Office were requested. The police did not provide any further information about the items.
wit/dpa