The Guardian Police are investigating a parcel bomb attack on a pensioner in Bournemouth which is believed to be linked to a blackmail campaign against a branch of the supermarket chain Tesco. Three other suspect devices sent to other addresses in Bournemouth and Poole were intercepted at a Royal Mail sorting office yesterday, Dorset police said. The office was evacuated while bomb specialists searched the building for other devices. Police would not disclose why the pensioner had been a target but confirmed that all four packages were being linked to a blackmail demand received by a Tesco store in the Bournemouth area on September 4. He declined to give details of the demand, for operational reasons, but he confirmed that the pensioner was not a Tesco employee.
Dorset police are aware that two other people have recently received threatening letters.
The intercepted packages were posted somewhere in the Dorset area bearing an ad dress but no name. The typeface on the labels was similar to that on the blackmail letter, Mr Lee said, and police believed the labels and the letter were printed out on the same printer. He said an incident room had been set up and urged the public to be extra vigilant and cautious regarding any suspicious or unexpected packages they received. Somebody must know who is doing this, and we urge anybody who knows anything about the matter to contact us. The director of security at Tesco, John Purnell, said it remained unclear exactly why the demands were being made.