Controlled explosion carried out after police seize shipwreck trophies

North Wales police conducted raids and searches on houses in the Amlwch area and Bangor last week as part of a UK-wide operation to recover items taken from military and commercial shipwrecks without the proper authorisation.

Bomb disposal experts had to set off a controlled explosion in a field to destroy a small amount of items of ordinance that were recovered during the police searches.

The search warrants have been jointly carried out by police, the National Maritime Agency, Historic England and the Royal Logistic Corps of the British Army, and are in relation to the ‘appropriation and retention of maritime articles and war artefacts’.

Scuba Diver contributor and owner of Anglesey Divers, Martin Sampson, who has lived and worked in Holyhead for the past 28 years, commented: “The UK has a very rich maritime history, for example the coast from Holyhead to Liverpool is a graveyard of shipwrecks, many from World War One and World War Two.

“But for many years experienced divers have known that anything they find on these wrecks, the Receiver of Wreck – an official who administers the law dealing with maritime wrecks and salvage in some countries having a British administrative heritage – has to be informed.”