Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police are searching the Dunedin address where the man accused of murder over yesterday's terror attack lived, but had "to make it safe first".
Mr Bush said in a press conference this afternoon they were searching the Somerville St property using police's powers under the Search and Surveillance Act.
"We had to make it safe first," he said.
A bomb squad with a bomb robot earlier entered a Dunedin street after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed a man facing a murder charge for the Christchurch terrorist attack was a Dunedin resident.
A reporter at the scene said by 11.30am the cordon had been lifted. Police were outside the property where the attacker, named as Brenton Harrison Tarrant lived.
Tarrant, whose address was given as Andersons Bay in Dunedin, made an appearance from custody at Christchurch District Court.
At a news conference this morning, Ms Ardern said the main suspect, who is appearing in court this morning charged with murder, had lived in Dunedin.
"This individual has travelled around the world, with sporadic periods of time spent in New Zealand. They were not a resident of Christchurch, in fact they were currently based in Dunedin at the time of this event," she said.
Forty-nine people have died and 90 others have been injured after attacks on two mosques in Christchurch at Friday prayers.
Ms Ardern's comments come as the bomb squad, with a bomb robot, arrived on Somerville St in Dunedin just before 10am as police investigate a "location of interest" on the street linked to the attack.
A person who worked at South Dunedin gym the man frequented said he had been a member since October 2017. She had never heard of him raising his views about muslims.
The attack was a massive shock to members of the gym.
"It's just so crazy. You wouldn't expect something like this."
The man liked to talk about his travels and was often overseas, including a recent trip over the Christmas break.
The man had a strange accent, which she described as sounding like an upper class English accent, with an Australian twang.
This comes after police last night confirmed they are at a Dunedin "location of interest" in relation to the Christchurch terror attack.
A resident of Somerville St where there was a heavy police presence this morning told the Otago Daily Times he was still unable to return to his property, but he had been told a police bomb squad was in town and residents may be able to return after midday.
A mosque shooter said in a manifesto published on social media before the attack he originally planned to target Dunedin's Al Huda Mosque.
Part of Somerville St in the suburb of Andersons Bay remained closed this morning as police investigate a property linked to the yesterday's shootings.
Armed police and a Fire and Emergency New Zealand command unit were present on the street this morning.
Residents were still not allowed to return to their homes.
A car used in the attacks was registered to an address in the street and bought at a Dunedin car yard.
A Somerville St resident, who did not want to be named, said he lived a few houses away from the accused and often saw him working out at a South Dunedin gym.
The resident said the man kept to himself and when they did talk the man said it was only briefly.
It was not known if he lived by himself in the Somerville St property
Police have been unable to say when residents evacuated form their homes last night would be able to return.
A senior Turkish official says the suspect arrested in the New Zealand mosque attack travelled to Turkey multiple times and spent what the official called an "extended period of time in the country.
He says the suspect may have also travelled to countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with Turkish government rules.
The official says an investigation is underway of "the suspect's movements and contacts within the country."
He did not say when the suspect travelled to Turkey.
Last night more police flooded the street about 7.30pm and a reporter at the scene at 8.20pm said residents near the property of interest had been evacuated and residents at the cordon told they were not allowed to return.
The street is blocked from Every St up to Dunrobin St.
In the manifesto the man says he originally planned to attack the Al Huda Mosque as a result of a post made by the Otago Muslim Association.
The video on Facebook, he said, was labelled “Only for Muslims. Please do not redistribute”.
However, the man said he later focused his attention further north after a trip to Christchurch.
“After visiting the mosques in Christchurch and Linwood and seeing the desecration of the church that had been converted to a mosque in Ashburton, my plans changed,” he wrote.
He claimed the Christchurch mosques contained “more adults and a prior history of extremism”.
The manifesto also revealed he planned an attack on the Ashburton mosque.
“Whilst I am unsure as of this time of writing whether I will reach that target, it was a bonus objective,” he wrote.
Al Huda Mosque was guarded by armed police for parts of yesterday and this morning a police car and two officers were stationed outside.
With AP
