Overview
- The 250kg German SC250, which specialists blew up Friday in a controlled blast, is now safe, but police kept the exclusion zone at 400 metres.
- Royal Navy and Army teams chose an in‑place detonation after X‑ray gear could not clearly image a second fuse, so moving the bomb was judged unsafe.
- Engineers built protective works using roughly 400 to 450 tonnes of sand with walls and trenches, and police enforced a no‑fly zone to limit debris and risk.
- About 1,200 to 1,260 households left homes inside the cordon, three nearby schools closed, and an evacuation centre housed residents as officers went door to door.
- Plymouth’s history of WWII bombing means finds like this are not rare, with larger devices in Keyham in 2024 and another in Millbay this year shaping current response plans.