A bomb disposal squad have attended an address in Eastbourne after a mystery liquid was found in a house, causing the evacuation of 160 homes.
Police were called to an address in Hyde Road at 5.27pm on Monday evening after receiving reports of an unidentified liquid.
Tracy Westlake, 55, who lives next door to the house said that a leaking package wrapped in brown tape had been removed from the house.
“The police tapped on my door this morning and asked me to leave. You can still smell whatever it was that was leaking from the package.”
She continued: "You can still smell the chemicals in the air now.”
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team attended to assess the item and carried out a controlled explosion, with residents from six different streets asked to leave their homes by 9am on Tuesday morning.
Chief Inspector Simon Yates of Sussex Police said the clear liquid will be sent for analysis, which he described as stable and said in an unusual position inside the address.
No arrests have been made and nobody has been detained.
"We are unsure what is in that container.,” he said. “The address was being cleared out and was being used by street homeless. The container is the size of a drinks bottle. Nothing we have found suggests any link to terror. The container was in the middle of the floor in an odd position. We've found nothing to indicate any threat."
Local councillor Robert Smart told BBC Radio Sussex that the substance was “potentially dangerous”, and said “we will no doubt learn more” about the nature of the liquid.
Eastbourne Borough Council has opened a rest centre accommodation at the Town Hall for affected residents.
Sussex Police officers remain at the scene while the roads are closed, with no immediate risk to the public.
Chief Inspector Yates said: “I’d like to thank local residents, businesses and the wider community for their patience and understanding. It is thanks to their cooperation, and the support of our partner agencies, that we have been able to bring this incident to a swift and safe conclusion.
“Public safety will always be our number one priority, and it was important that we took the necessary precautions that we did to ensure the safety of everyone in the vicinity.
“The item has been safely destroyed and disposed of and no further items of concern have been found inside the property. We are not treating this as terror-related and it is not believed to be linked to any other incidents in the area.”
