UNI bOMb ALERT NO2
STUDENTS AND STAFF EVACUATED
BY STEPHEN STEWART AND ALAN McEWEN StUDeNtS and staff at a second Scottish university campus were forced to flee yesterday after a suspicious package was discovered.
Glasgow University’s Dumfries campus was locked down by police and fire crews at 12.30pm.
A controlled explosion was carried out at the university’s main campus in Glasgow on Wednesday following the discovery of a suspect package.
Anti-terrorist police said it could be linked to three mail bombs delivered on Tuesday to Waterloo station in London and offices at Heathrow and London City airports.
A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Police said yesterday: “At around 12.30pm, police received a report of a suspicious package found at the University of Glasgow campus in Dumfries.
“Emergency services are in attendance and part of the campus has been evacuated as a precaution. The item will be examined and inquiries are ongoing.”
A spokeswoman for the university said: “Staff and students have been evacuated from the Rutherford/McCowan building as a precautionary measure.”
The building was cordoned off for almost five hours before police established the package was not dangerous.
Glasgow University Principal Anton Muscatelli passed on his thanks “to colleagues who were directly involved in the incident, and to staff and students who handled the disruption with patience and understanding”.
Staff at Dundee and Aberdeen universities have been told to be extra-vigilant.
At the same time as the Dumfries incident was beginning, several shops on Princes Street in Edinburgh were evacuated because of a suspect package delivered to a branch of the Halifax bank.
The street was closed to traffic and tram services were halted. Bomb disposal experts examined the package and found it contained clothes.