A section of Aberdeen beach was cordoned off for over five hours while a controlled explosion was carried out to deal with a bomb found in the sand.
A member of the public found the object on a stretch of beach close to Accommodation Road and called the police around 10.20am.
Police were soon at the scene and cordoned off 200 metres of the beach.
After assessing the risk posed by the device, police decided to call in a Royal Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit to carry out a controlled explosion.
The area of beach remained closed throughout most of the afternoon while police waited for the EOD unit to arrive from the Royal Navy base at Faslane.
The unit arrived shortly after 3pm and, following an inspection, carried out a controlled explosion at 3.45pm. Police subsequently reopened the beach just before 4pm after it had been shut for around five and a half hours.
Inspector Mark Stephen was keen to downplay the bomb discovery and confirmed it posed no public risk.
He said: “Following a review, it was established the device potentially had no explosive capability.
“However, a controlled explosion was carried out as a precaution. I would stress that there was no threat to the public at any stage.
“Thank you to the public and motorists for their patience while this incident was dealt with.”
One walker on beach was surprised by the unexpected discovery.
He explained: “I walked along that section of the beach just before it was shut off by police and I didn’t see anything suspicious.”
This is far from the first time that a bomb has been discovered on Aberdeen beach.
Since 2011, there have been more than 50 explosive devices washed up at the site, the most recent of which was last September.
The popular beach was closed for almost four and a half hours while the British Army’s Edinburgh Explosive Ordnance Disposal regiment dealt with the incident.
