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A bag containing car cleaner stopped all hearings at Auckland District Court today after a man called police and told them he had planted a bomb.
The court was evacuated shortly after 9am after police found a bag where the caller said he had left it - outside
the entrance to number one court on the first floor.
Witnesses told nzherald.co.nz of a thin folder bag with black and grey strips which was left sitting on a chair immediately outside courtroom one.
Police asked a couple if it was theirs and they responded that it wasn't and had been sitting on the chair for five minutes.
When no one came to claim it, police told the witnesses to walk away from the bag, which they then surrounded.
The bag was exploded by army bomb disposal experts and found to contain a car cleaning product. Damage to the court was minimal.
Police spokeswoman, Noreen Hegarty, said the court was cleared rapidly after the call.
"There was a specific threat relating to a specific location in the district court. There was a bag found at that particular location and that is why there was the response that there was.
"The caller said there was a bomb in the district court, outside court one on level one and a cursory glance in that direction confirmed there was a package of that description there."
She said the source of the phone call had yet to be identified.
Barrister Cam Robertson said just prior to 10am the court room was cleared "with the court just on the verge of starting".
Mr Robertson said a security guard instructed everyone to vacate the court building.
Prisoners waiting to appear in court were returned to the Auckland central police station.
The alert closed the court and several streets around Albert, Federal, Kingston streets and caused some traffic problems.
Cordons were lifted shortly after 1pm allowing traffic back onto Albert Street.
However Kingston Street remained closed as police checked the rest of the building.
Afternoon sessions at the court resumed at 2.15pm.
Several fire trucks, ambulance officers and about 40 police were tied up with the scare for several hours.
- with NZPA