This is the moment when army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion of ordinance on a farm in St Albans, following the arrest of a man alleged to have stolen heritage artefacts and munitions through illegal metal detecting.

A 48 year old man was arrested at 8am yesterday, and a number of items believed to be First and Second World War artefacts and munitions were been seized from an address in Windmill Ave following the execution of a search warrant.

The man is currently in police custody for questioning.

Artefacts and munitions seized include: hand grenades, rifles, mortar shells, flare guns, hand guns and ammunition.

A spokeswoman for Herts Police said it is a criminal offence to retrieve artefacts from the ground through using a metal detector if the land is a protected site, or without permission of the landowner.