BOMB disposal experts spent yesterday scouring a Liverpool flat which is at the centre of a terrorist plot investigation.

Residents were ordered to leave their homes in Highgate Street, Edge Hill, at about 2.30pm, and at 4.10pm an Army bomb disposal unit arrived.

Uniformed officers and plain-clothed police had trawled through the street warning people they needed to evacuate the street “for their own safety”.

One resident claimed he had been told by officers that “chemicals” had been found, although last night police did not confirm if anything had been discovered in the flat.

People in the area said the evacuation order came hours after police sniffer dogs had been sent into the crumbling block of flats which is being searched in the aftermath of the alleged failed Easter bomb plot.

Two suspects were arrested near the property last Wednesday as counter-terrorism police hunted for an al-Qaida bomb-making factory.

They were among 12 arrested in the North-West, who included John Moores University students Mohammad Ramzan, 25, and Abdul Wahab Khan.

Officers yesterday sealed off both ends of Highgate Street and surrounding streets including Highgate Court, Helsby Street and Shimmin Street.

Worried householders gathered at one end of the street.

They were told by officers in high visibility jackets it “would be hours” before they could re-enter their homes.

Last night, the city council had set up temporary accommodation at Wavertree Tennis Centre to provide shelter for around 50 evacuees.

But less than an hour after being taken there by minibus, residents were allowed to return to their homes when the cordon was lifted at around 8.45pm.

One, Marie Lee, said last night: “The tennis centre was freezing cold when we got there and all the kids were starving. But no sooner had the last bus arrived than we were told ‘You can go home now’.”

Residents earlier spoke of the drama which shattered their Easter Monday yesterday afternoon.

Father-of-two David Smith, 29, who lives on the street, said: “Last week my mum and nan had my two babies, a six-month-old and a one-year-old, and they wouldn’t let me in to see them. They refused me access and demanded they didn't move.

“Now they’ve just rushed everyone out, without a word.”