White powder left in an Arndale shop, triggering a full scale emergency alert, may have been drugs.
The substance was found by a member of staff in The Works - a games and crafts store - in Manchester's city centre shopping mall.
The MEN understands it was in a small, plastic bag pinched at the top, of the type and size used for carrying sandwiches.
The alarm was raised at 5.15pm yesterday and resulted in a partial evacuation of the Arndale centre.
Police, firefighters and paramedics went to the scene and people were urged to stay away from the city centre.
The drama came to an end two hours later when the powder was examined by fire service hazardous materials experts and found to be harmless. It is understood tests later indicated a positive result for drugs in the bag.
It was the second almost identical incident in the city in four days.
On Monday, we reported that 'suspicious powder' was delivered in an envelope to a city centre office block. It was later revealed to be 'non-toxic'.
Piccadilly Gate on Store Street was evacuated as a precaution after the incident at around 2.30pm on Monday.
Again emergency services attended and the building was evacuated and a cordon erected, with Store Street closed between London Road and Jutland Street.
A member of staff in the office block opened the envelope and raised the alarm. Its contents were found to be inert after being examined by a fire service experts.
Witnesses told the MEN the alert was focused on Department of Education offices within the block, but a spokeswoman for the DOE declined to comment.
A number of government departments including the DOE are housed at Piccadilly Gate.
GMP enquiries are continuing and at the present time there is no link between the two incidents.
Initial testing has established that the powder found in the Arndale is non-toxic.
Further testing and investigation is ongoing to determine if this is a controlled substance and how it came to be in the store.
