A CONTROLLED explosion was carried out in St Helier yesterday after a man applying for a job in the Income Tax office ‘joked’ that he was carrying a bomb.

The man is understood to have been in an interview on the ground floor of Cyril Le Marquand House at 12.40 pm when, after being asked if there was any reason why he could not leave his rucksack in the corner, he replied that there was a bomb in it.

Staff pressed the fire alarm and within minutes the 350 or so civil servants in the nine-floor building were filing out into Parade Gardens. The Council of Ministers were also forced to abandon their meeting on the top floor and go to muster points outside.

Several people reported seeing the man, whom they described as white and middle-aged, being pinned down by three police officers close to the building’s entrance shortly after 1 pm. A 50-year-old man was arrested and led away for questioning at police headquarters. Detectives believe his claims were a hoax. Police said this morning that he had been released without charge pending further inquiries.