British police have launched an inquiry after a cache of explosives and detonators was discovered in a hostel in west London. Scotland Yard has said there is "no evidence" to link the commercially made explosives with dissident republican terrorists, writes Rachel Donnelly, in London.
A member of staff at the Belvedere House Hostel in Grenville Place, South Kensington, found the explosives on Thursday night during a routine inspection of a downstairs bathroom. They were in a small box. The building was evacuated and nearby streets were closed while anti-terrorism officers made the explosives safe. The detonators were discovered close to the explosives a few hours later during a search of the hostel. They were not connected to the explosives and the cache was not treated as an explosive device.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "There is no evidence to suggest any links to Irish republican dissident groups. These are not the kind of explosives terrorists use."