A bomb disposal robot was deployed to a British polling station in the early hours of Thursday morning just hours before voting was due to begin after a “suspicious device” was discovered, with police arresting one man.

Police were alerted to a “suspicious device” in the Glen tower block of flats in Motherwell, northern Britain, around one o’clock Thursday morning, just six hours before the polling station at the location was due to open for the national general election.

Residents of the modernist tower block were evacuated by police, reports the Daily Record, before bomb disposal experts deployed a robot and destroyed the device. Voters who would have cast their ballots at the location have been allowed to vote at a different polling station nearby.

We received a report of what was described as a suspicious device on the ground floor of #GlenTower flats in #Motherwell around 1am on Thurs 12 Dec. EOD have carried out a controlled explosion as a precaution. Enquiries are ongoing. More: https://t.co/qDkTI63Ehi @nlcpeople pic.twitter.com/2UJaiigBHz — Motherwell Police (@MotherwellPol) December 12, 2019

The device was found to have been “non-viable” by police, who subsequently arrested a 48-year-old man. Neither the identity of the suspect, nor any possible motive for planting the device has yet been revealed.

Chief Inspector Mark Leonard said of the incident: “Officers responded to reports of a suspicious device on the ground floor of Glen Tower flats, Motherwell… a cordon was placed around the building and residents within the cordon were evacuated for safety reasons. It was to found to be a non-viable device.

“The evacuation of residents within the cordon has now ended and police are working with North Lanarkshire Council to return people to their homes. Enquiries are ongoing and we are keen to talk to anyone that may have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the area around 12 and 1am this morning.”

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