TWO wartime shells sparked a bomb alert near Wrexham.

Army bomb disposal experts removed the anti-aircraft shells from Rhostyllen.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The team were called out to the Rhostyllen area, just off the A483 Wrexham bypass, to deal with two eight-and-a-half pound anti-aircraft shells, which dated back to the Second World War.

The spokesman said a team of experts from the Explosive Ordnance Device Corps were called to the area at 11.36pm on Monday.

They remained on the site until 11.30am the following day.

Leader readers reported seeing the vehicle near the Croesfoel roundabout of the A483.

The MoD spokesman said: “The shells were found to be inert. They were safely collected and taken back to the unit’s base.”

The spokesman refused to say exactly where the shells were found or who discovered them. However he confirmed that the bomb disposal team only responds to calls from the police and not members of the public.

Business premises in the area, including the Evans Halshaw and Dickens car dealerships and the Travelodge Hotel, said they had not heard anything about the emergency.

There is therefore speculation that the shells were taken away from a private address in the area.

Local military historian Peter Stubbs said the shells were possibly 3.7-inch ammunition for the huge artillery pieces – known as ack-ack guns – which protected Britain from raids by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War:

Peter said: “It is quite possible that an anti-aircraft battery was operating in Rhostyllen during the war.

“There were a number of strategic sites around the Wrexham area in those days, such as the munitions factory in Marchwiel.

“The ack-ack battery wouldn’t necessarily have been sited permanently in Rhostyllen as they tended to be mobile units.”