Cordon lifted after bomb hoax clears building

Photo / Martin Sykes

A sniffer dog has completed its search and police have lifted a cordon set near a downtown Auckland bank which had been evacuated after a bomb threat was made this afternoon.

Senior Sergeant Ben Offner said that the call was made to the ANZ call centre at 3pm by a "well-educated" man who said a bomb had been planted in an ANZ bank branch on Queen Street.

Mr Offner said originally all three branches were evacuated but after police spoke to the call centre staff member, they were able to narrow it down to the branch on the corner of Victoria St West and Queen St.

A bomb sniffer dog from Aviation Security was called in and gave the all-clear shortly after 5.30 this evening.

"It was a hoax call and to be honest, I'm not happy. It has wasted resources," Mr Offner said.

He said a number of business were affected by the hoax, with the entire skyscraper building above the bank being evacuated and other shops nearby having to close.

"It could have been a lot worse. We could have had to shut down the whole city."

He said a number of charges could result from the hoax call and police would be making "their normal enquiries."

ANZ-National Bank spokeswoman Gita Parsot said that the affected branches remained closed following the initial call-out and would reopen as normal from tomorrow.

The safety of employees and customers was paramount, and support was available to staff who required it, she said.

Commuters and office workers massed around the cordon as they waited for the all-clear, while tourists took photographs of the scene.

Auckland busker Luke Hurley was performing outside the ANZ at the time of the evacuation and was being talked to by security guards working under contract to the Auckland City Council when a police officer told him to turn his gear off.

"He told me to hoof it," Mr Hurley said.

Police had told him that any electrical equipment had to be turned off.

Mr Hurley joked that the cordon was actually "to protect my gear," which had remained inside the cordon.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE