UPDATE: 1.40pm
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A SUSPECTED explosive device in Lavington has been declared safe.
Insp David Cottee said the small device, found in a gutter near the intersection of Alldis Avenue and McDonald Road, was found to be “completely innocuous”.
McDonald Road between Prune and Bownds streets has now been reopened after being closed for several hours this morning.
Police had called in the bomb squad from Sydney but Insp Cottee said that, on further consultation, local police were able to dismantle the device themselves.
There were no explosives inside, he said.
“We think someone was using it for something else and then just discarded it,” he said.
“I don’t think there was any intention to make it look like a bomb.
“So all is good and well up there.”
12.17pm:
A SUSPECTED explosive device was found in a Lavington street this morning.
A local resident called police just before 10am after finding the small package in the gutter near the intersection of McDonald Road and Alldis Avenue.
McDonald Road has been blocked off to traffic between between Prune and Bownds streets, as is Alldis Avenue, while police await the arrival of the bomb squad from Sydney.
Insp David Cottee said while police were treating the object as suspicious and potentially dangerous, its size and location meant there was no need to evacuate the area.
“We are restricting access to the immediate area but people are perfectly safe in their own homes,” he said.
Insp Cottee described the package as “reasonably small” and homemade, though there were some electric components visible.
“It may or may not be an IED (improvised explosive device) but we are treating it as such at the moment,” he said.
“There is no indication it will set off but it is difficult to assess what the contents are.
“There is no motive at this stage - it could be an elaborate hoax.”