A man has appeared in court today charged with sending a suspicious package to a Covid vaccine factory that halted production for up to five hours.
Emergency services were called after staff raised the alarm and all workers had to be evacuated from the Wockhardt site in Wrexham, North Wales, on Wednesday as the package was investigated.
A spokesman for Kent Police said Anthony Collins, of Chatham, had been charged with dispatching an article by post with the intention of inducing the belief it was likely to explode or ignite.
He appeared at Medway Magistrates’ Court on Saturday and was remanded in custody, the spokesman said.
The 53-year-old, who was arrested on Thursday, will next appear at Maidstone Crown Court on February 26.
A bomb squad pictured near the Wockhardt site in Wrexham, North Wales, after emergency services were called to the site on Wednesday and the package was investigated
A police forensic officer pictured walking past a bomb disposal unit van outside the Wockhardt pharmaceutical plant in Wrexham, North Wales, on January 27
Production ground to a halt at the site as the item, which police said was not a viable device, was investigated. The Army’s bomb disposal unit worked on the package before taking it away for further analysis.
A spokesman for Kent Police previously said: ‘Kent Police have detained a man after a suspicious package was sent to a Covid-19 vaccine production plant in North Wales.
‘The suspicious package is reported to have been received at the facility, in Wrexham, on the morning of Wednesday 27 January 2021.
‘As part of ongoing enquiries, which are being carried out by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, pre-planned warrants took place at addresses in Luton Road and Chatham Hill, Chatham, on the morning of Thursday 28 January.
‘A 53-year-old man from Chatham has been arrested on suspicion of sending the packages and remains in custody as enquiries continue.
‘There is no evidence to suggest there is an ongoing threat.’
A plant spokesperson had said the pause in manufacturing – which began around 11.30 – did not affect the previously-approved ‘production schedule’ of the vaccine.
Workers returned to the factory around 4.30pm and production has resumed after the suspicious package was ‘made safe’.
Police officers outside the Wockhardt pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, a production plant for the coronavirus vaccine, on Wrexham Industrial Estate on Wednesday
The Covid vaccine factory in Wrexham, North Wales, pictured sealed off earlier this week with a bomb squad on the scene to investigate the suspicious package
A police cordon pictured on Wrexham Industrial Estate near the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Wockhardt site where Covid vaccines are being manufactured
The arrest came after police earlier raided two properties in Chatham, Kent.
Wockhardt, a global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, provides fill-and-finish services for the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine – the final stage of putting the vaccine into vials.
On Wednesday a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said an explosive ordnance disposal team based in Chester was called out just after 11.30am and was assisting the authorities in Wrexham.
The site was previously under threat from flood water, with the leader of Wrexham County Borough earlier saying authorities worked ‘through the night’ to ensure that the factory was not overwhelmed by the deluge.
Police pictured blocking Wrexham Industrial Estate near the Wockhardt factory earlier this week. Anthony Collins appeared at Medway Magistrates’ Court today
Police cordons on Abbey Road outside the Wrexham Industrial Estate near the Wockhardt site where coronavirus vaccines are manufactured after a suspect package was found
Mark Pritchard said that resources such as gullies had been put in place to protect the vaccine storage facility on the industrial estate.
He earlier told Sky News: ‘I’m sure you are aware that the Oxford vaccine is manufactured there and we had to work with the company logistically with their storage facility, that was under possibility of flooding.
‘So we worked through the night with that and that was a success.
‘This could have had an impact not just in Wrexham, Wales, but across the whole country with the vaccination supplies.’