The shocking moment an unexploded Second World War bomb was carefully placed in a container to be taken out to sea and detonated there – after it was found under a house in Plymouth this week.

The bomb, which appears to have belonged to the Nazis, was discovered by a father who was digging the foundations of his daughter’s house to make an extension – and since then a military operation has been planned with pinpoint accuracy to extract it and remove it from St Michael’s Avenue .

Hundreds of offices, shops, schools and homes were evacuated in one of the UK’s largest peacetime operations of its kind to allow the Army’s explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialists to safely remove the bomb.

Army chiefs decided that the bomb would cause enormous damage if detonated where it was, possibly destroying many homes and endangering lives.

Instead, it was slogged away from Plymouth’s narrow streets in the back of a lorry, filled with sand – with the operation forcing 10,320 people and 4,300 inner-city properties to be affected by the operation, according to Plymouth City Council.

Roads were closed and even rail services halted – to minimize the risk of unwanted tremors that could trigger it with deadly and devastating consequences.

Chief Superintendent Ian Drummond-Smith of Devon and Cornwall Police told X, ex-Twitter: “The bomb went into the sea! Thank you all for your patience and good mood.’