<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=copy vAlign=top>20.07.05 UPDATED AT 1.50pm </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Police lifted cordons in central Auckland at around 1.30pm after a suspicious package was declared safe.
An area approximately 50m in each direction had been closed off at the intersection of Queen Street and Victoria Street for around two and a half hours.
After a bomb disposal expert, dressed in heavily padded gear, had worked on the package, police took down barriers and declared the scene safe.
Motorists and pedestrians had earlier been advised to stay away from central Auckland.
Police cordoned off the intersection at 11am after being notified at about 10.30am of a suspicious parcel being on the footpath.
A police spokeswoman said: "The bomb disposal unit has determined the suspicious package on Victoria St is not dangerous and the pedestrian cordon around the Queen Street/Victoria Street corner has been lifted.
"Police have retrieved the materials used in the packages and will be examining them in an effort to discover who was responsible for leaving them in such a way as to raise concern."
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