A Lancashire shopping centre was evacuated on Thursday after an "incendiary device" was discovered on the premises. Police believe that the device, found in a bin in the men's toilets, had been "ignited" and had the potential to cause "serious injury".
Customers were cleared from the Fishergate Shopping Centre in Preston at around 9am following a tip-off from a member of the public. A local recorded a video clip showing shoppers being escorted away from the building "as a precaution" by marshals in hi-vis jackets.
Lancashire Police Chief Superintendent James Lee described the suspicious object as "a small incendiary device", adding that it "could have caused damage or injury to someone had it fully gone off". The Lancashire Evening Post reports that the device was apparently made using an asthma inhaler, firelighters and matches.
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After police and bomb disposal officers attended the scene, the centre remained closed for the rest of the day, although it is set to open as normal today.
Police now wish to speak to a man caught on CCTV carrying a bag on an escalator inside the nearby St George's shopping centre at around 8.30am, forty minutes before the device was discovered. The man appears to be wearing a black cap, black sweatshirt and blue jeans.
Detective Chief Inspector Jill Johnston said: "We are treating this as a criminal investigation and while the motivation for this incident remains unclear at this stage, we believe this device has been left there deliberately and did have the potential to cause serious injury if it had exploded."