The police bomb squad was rushed to Conder yesterday, after a series of overnight explosions in surrounding suburbs sparked fears that a roadside package could have been dangerous.
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The suspicious package was discovered by a police patrol on Tharwa Drive about 3.45am.
Police cordoned off the area and blocked the road between Mentone View and Box Hill Avenue, causing delays to traffic for much of yesterday morning.
The Bomb Response Team was deployed to the site, donning protective bomb suits, and using an explosives robot to render the package safe. The package was found to be not dangerous, but reports of a series of loud explosives through the suburbs surrounding Conder had made police cautious.
Nearby residents told The Canberra Times they had heard between four to 10 loud explosions from about 10pm to midnight.
At first, Calwell resident Stephen Wedd thought the noises were fireworks, or cars backfiring. ''The first really big one, I just thought it was a backfire at first,'' Mr Wedd said. ''But I don't think that's what it was, because a few minutes later there was another biggish bang,
''At one point I thought, 'I wonder if there's kids out there blowing up letterboxes'.''
ACT Policing said they were still investigating the source of the explosions.
A Calwell resident, who asked not to be named, said the explosions were so loud that she thought the car parked in her driveway had exploded.
''There were two lots of two [explosions] between 10pm and 11pm, and then another five or six between 11pm and 12pm at some stage, and then there was nothing,'' she said.
''As it progressed, you could tell they were more explosive than crackers or gunshots.''
Traffic was still moving slowly in the suburb late yesterday morning, despite Tharwa Drive being reopened about 10.30am.
ACT Policing took to Twitter yesterday to apologise to drivers for any inconvenience.