Frankston strip deemed safe hours after 'suspicious devices' reported
A busy road in Frankston has been re-opened to traffic after it was shut down for several hours on Tuesday morning, as a bomb squad team investigated "suspicious devices" outside a courthouse.
Police sent a team to Fletcher Road about 8am following reports of suspicious devices located in the street.
Bomb squad detective investigate a suspicious device placed outside Frankston Magistrates Court.
Photo: Eddie JimThe area surrounding the police station and courthouse was cordoned off as officers in flak jackets checked cars. Retail staff inside Bayside Shopping Centre were put into lockdown and matters due to be heard in the nearby Frankston Magistrate Court were postponed as the bomb squad investigated.
A VicRoads spokeswoman announced Fletcher Road had been re-opened between Evelyn Street and Beach Street about 10am.
A police spokeswoman said the area was now safe. ''Safety checks were conduced and it has been cleared,'' she said.
Frankston Magistrates Court has now reopened. More than 140 matters were listed for Tuesday. A court spokeswoman said it was not yet known how many matters had been delayed.
Steve Mclean, a mechanic with Kmart Tyre and Auto on Fletcher Road, said some clients were not able to get to his workshop on Tuesday morning because of the street closure.
A discarded device on Fletcher Road is inspected.
Photo: Eddie Jim''The manager of Kmart (at Bayside Shopping Centre) was due to drop off the keys to his car but he can't,'' Mr Mclean said.
One woman who works at a car parts workshop near the scene said ''there were cops everywhere'' in the morning.
Students at Chisholm Tafe in Frankston were temporarily forced to enter their school from Quality Street after the main entrance on Fletcher Road.
It is unclear how many threats, suspicious packages or suspicious devices Victoria's bomb squad is called to investigate each year.
In April last year, two teenagers - one from country Victoria and the other half a world away in Israel - were charged over two separate series of bomb hoaxes to schools across Australia. The Victorian teen, a 17-year-old from Mildura in the state's north, is accused of sending threats to schools in three states via secret email accounts between May 2016 and April 2017.
In June, the bomb squad were called to investigate what ended up being a broken toy in a K-mart store.
Also last year, Bourke Street Mall was shut down as a suspicious package found among flowers honouring victims of the car attack was investigated. Police 'conducted safety checks' after a package was reported in the makeshift memorial.
Earlier, in November 2015, a suspicious package that created havoc around Southern Cross Station turned out to be a pair of shoes. Workers had been evacuated and a busy intersection cordoned off.