A bomb scare shut down parts of East Corrimal on Saturday night, but a suspicious package turned out to be nothing more than misplaced rubbish.
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Staff at the Caltex service station on Railway Street became concerned after a customer drove off after leaving a Styrofoam box next to a petrol pump about 5.30pm.
“He didn’t say anything about it. He dropped the box, filled up his fuel, then left,” said Shwetang Patel, a cashier at the station.
“We didn’t know what was inside the box. Another customer said it was unusual, and we should call the police.”
Police, detectives, police rescue, fire and ambulance crews rushed to the scene, to find the suspicious box contained nothing but papers and rubbish.
“It was just full of documents, but we went through the motions once we got called out there,” said Wollongong police Inspector Brian Wyver.
“After a search, it was found the box contained documents and plastic bags. Someone had left it there by mistake.”
Mr Patel said police requested the service station pumps be turned off while crews assessed the scene. He said the area was closed to traffic for several hours.
One resident said Railway Street was closed between Duff Parade and Pioneer Road.
‘‘We weren’t scared, but I have not seen anything like that before,’’ Mr Patel said.
‘‘The police came and checked everything, but it was just rubbish.’’
Insp Wyver said police were not investigating.