WORKERS have found people in air ducts trying to strip metal out of the Newport city centre demolition site where hundreds of hypodermic syringes have been found.

Senior Newport council officer Sheila Davies told the Argus young men have tried to walk through the site “to do a reccy” despite it being fenced off.

Specialist staff have been brought in from the authority’s environmental team to clear the hazardous material.

Last month the Cuddy Group began work to demolishing shop units, part of Newport Bus Station and the Capitol car park in preparation for the start of the construction of Frairs Walk.

Ms Davies, Newport council’s strategic director for regeneration, said: “We’ve found people in the air ducts inside those buildings stuck where they are trying to get in to strip some of the metal out.

“It just delays the work.”

She said workers “didn’t expect to find so many hypodermic syringes. She added: “We found over 600 now.”

Some of the syringes had been placed in cavity walls.

“We’ve got to get our specialist staff from environmental health to go in to know what to look for and remove it,” said Ms Davies.

“I go down weekly, kitted out in all the safety gear to inspect progress and keep pushing it.

“Even when I’m on site, men, all under 30, are still moving that fencing and trying to walk through that site.

“It’s really dangerous.”

She said she believed that they were using drugs and were “doing a reccy”.

The Welsh Government has provided £1.5 million in funding for the city centre demolition work in and around John Frost Square.

Once it is complete, work can start on the new Friars Walk shopping and leisure complex.