A HOMEMADE explosive device was disarmed by police on Saturday night after a bomb scare prompted the evacuation of a suburban shopping centre.

The bomb squad was called to the Elizabeth Shopping Centre in Adelaide’s north at 3.45pm after reports of a man acting suspiciously in a loading bay in the complex’s southwestern carpark.

The man, who has not been named but who is “known” to police, was searched and discovered him with knuckledusters, a “homemade” firearm and explosive device.

While a motive remained unclear last night, police ruled out any terror threat. The device triggered an entire centre evacuation just before 5pm, while an exclusion zone was imposed.

That cordon was expanded as a robot was sent to help assess the device alongside an officer in a full body protective suit.

Almost four hours after the drama unfolded, the police explosives co-ordination section “disrupted” the device, understood to be a pipe bomb, and made it safe as an officer yelled

“cover”.

An Elizabeth Grove man, 39, was arrested when the suspect device was found in a backpack.

Police dismissed television news reports the man had been under surveillance.

He was last night charged with possess prohibited weapons, firearms and explosives offences.

He was refused bail and will appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court tomorrow.

Detective Chief Inspector Shane Addison, of Elizabeth Police, said authorities had found no links to terrorism but the circumstances remained under investigation.

“There are no connections to terrorism at this stage and we believe it is not terrorism related,” he said.

“The full details of the explosive haven’t been determined.

“Like all explosive devices, it certainly has the potential to cause harm and it is extremely concerning to police that a person would be in a public area, like a shopping centre, carrying such a device.”

He added: “The homemade firearm was not registered as such and appears to be an object that has been converted to fire ammunition.”

Chief Inspector Addison said the man’s home and another address connected to him were being searched late last night.

He said no one was directly threatened or injured.