TWO live artillery shells that washed up on the beach in Dunwich have been safely disposed of in a controlled explosion.

Police received the call at 8.50am when a member of the public spotted the shells near the car park in Beach Road, Dunwich.

A bomb disposal team from Colchester was called and arrived on the scene at 11.25am.

A cordon of 1000m was put in place around the scene of the incident and on inspection the shells were found to be live and destroyed in a controlled explosion just before 1pm.

The team has secured the area and the cordon has now been lifted.