UK Police Blow Up Suspicious Briefcase in Westminster, London: Reports

U.K. police carried out a controlled demolition of a suspicious briefcase at Abingdon Green in Westminster in Central London on Friday. News of the incident spread rapidly via Twitter.
UK Police Blow Up Suspicious Briefcase in Westminster, London: Reports
Jack Phillips
7/12/2013
Updated:
7/18/2015

U.K. police carried out a controlled demolition of a suspicious briefcase at Abingdon Green in Westminster in Central London on Friday. News of the incident spread rapidly via Twitter.

Sky News broke the story via its Twitter feed, but there were other accounts as well. “Police carry out controlled explosion on suspicious briefcase at Abingdon Green in Westminster in Central London,” it said.

“What a Friday night! A suspect package was blown up opposite the House of Lords. I saw the robot and sniffer dogs. Am safe,” wrote Twitter user Clare M Coffey.

“Heard the bang. Someone said it was briefcase with anti politics message on it...” she later wrote.

“I’m hearing there’s been a controlled explosion on a suspicious brief case close to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster tonight,” wrote Jason Rosam of the BBC on Twitter.

Another Twitter user wrote: “Some poor [expletive] has left his briefcase in Westminster and it’s been destroyed by police. It will explain the lack of meaningful policy.”

The news comes just hours after a purported nail bomb was detonated near a mosque in Tipton, West Midlands. There were no injuries in the blast.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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