Police are searching sections of Seedley Park in Salford this morning after reports that a quantity of bullets had been hidden somewhere in the park.
Teams of armed and tactical aid officers were dispatched to the popular public park, off Gore Crescent, at around 7am on Friday 15 July.
Specialist Operations officers in baseball caps could be seen using spades to dig through undergrowth near Seedley Terrace, using a metal detector to search through low scrub, and pulling evidence bags from the back of two support units.
Around 25 police officers were still combing the park by 9.30am on Friday.
Constables stationed along the tree-lined walkways were not stopping joggers or dog walkers from entering the park at Gore Crescent, nor further up towards Eccles Old Road.
Seedley Park was originally a seperate section of the adjacent and much larger Buile Hill Park, further up the hill.
It has now been incorporated into one large public park.
It’s understood no-one has been injured in the park or surrounding areas this morning.
A crime scene tent erected earlier in one grassed area in the south-west corner seems to have been taken down.
In a statement Greater Manchester Police would only confirm that they had had reports of ammunition being hidden, not that any had yet been discovered.
Schoolchildren from nearby Buile Hill Visual Arts College are doing a sponsored 10k walk around the park and local area today in support of a desperately ill toddler Noel Taylor, 2.
There is not thought to be any wider threat to the public.
Police were still searching pathways and talking to park-goers as of 10.30am on Friday.
This is considered to be a live operation and not related to the joint military and emergency services flood training exercise which took place across Greater Manchester on Thursday 14 July.
Update – 3.20pm Friday 15 July: Officers were stood down from Buile Hill and Seedley parks at 2.30pm on Friday after more than six hours searching.
Greater Manchester Police said no ammunition, bullets or weapons were found.
Anyone with any further information is asked to call Greater Manchester Police on 101, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
