LAST UPDATE | 6 Mar 2019
A SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE discovered at the University of Glasgow this afternoon has been linked to three explosive devices found at three London transport centres yesterday, police have said.
Several buildings on the Scottish university’s campus, including the mailroom, were evacuated “as a precautionary measure” after the package was found this afternoon.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson of Police Scotland has said “the package was not opened and no one was injured”.
Bomb-disposal experts later performed a controlled explosion on the item, police have said.
Commander Clarke Jarrett from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command has said that “due to similarities in the package, its markings and the type of device that was recovered in Glasgow, we are treating it as being linked to the three packages we’re investigating in London”.
“We are working very closely with our colleagues from Police Scotland and both investigations are being run in tandem”.
“We continue to pursue a number of lines of enquiry and one such line is the possibility that the packages have come from Ireland. However, we are still keeping an open mind with regards who may be responsible and any possible motivation”.
Met police yesterday launched a terrorism investigation after three small explosive devices were reported at a building near Heathrow Airport, London City Aviation House and the mail room of Waterloo station in London city centre.
The packages – all A4-sized white postal bags containing yellow Jiffy bags – were assessed by specialist officers and found to be small improvised explosive devices.
The devices, at the early stage of the investigation, appeared capable of igniting an initially small fire when opened.
Gardaí confirmed to TheJournal.ie yesterday evening that they were helping the Met Police with their investigations.
Dean Haydon, Britain’s senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, has said that no sender had been identified and that no group had claimed responsibility.
“We are talking to our Irish counterparts but at the moment there’s nothing to indicate motivation of the sender or ideology, so I cannot confirm at the moment if it’s connected to any Ireland-related terrorist groups”.
With reporting from Associated Press
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