Australia: Police announce bomb amnesty – but don’t want them brought to the station

SCMP: Police set to run Australia’s first amnesty on illegal bombs have hedged their appeal with a warning that “under no circumstances are materials to be transported to a police station”.

New South Wales police want to cut the volume of dangerous explosives in the state by giving a six-month window of legal immunity to those who hand them in.

From May 1, officers will ­respond to calls from the public reporting unlicensed collections of bombs or hazardous materials, ranging from home-made explosives to those smuggled out of commercial or military facilities and even fireworks.

Those involved in the illicit ­collection or making of explosives have ranged from criminal gangs to curious individuals, in addition to what authorities have alleged were a number of foiled bomb plots by would-be terrorists.  read more