Suspicious package which closed M1 for 10 hours was filled with acid and may have been left deliberately, police reveal

A suspcious package which closed the M1 for 10 hours was filled with acid and may have been left deliberately, police have revealed. 

A five-litre container of a highly corrosive substance, believed to hydrochloric acid which at a high concentration can burn skin and cause fatal injury, was pouring across two lanes of carriage way when police blocked off the road, leaving commuters stuck while the incident was dealt with.

Bomb disposal was initially called to the incident, which police said they aren't treating as terror related. The discovery of the package led to an 11 mile stretch of the M1 between junctions 15 at Northampton and 14 at Milton Keynes being closed both ways from the early hours of on Tuesday morning.

"The object has now been removed from the scene in a secure container but is still being analysed, however, we do know the substance is a highly corrosive material, possibly hydrochloric acid, which has reacted with another substance causing it to discharge on to lane one and lane two of the southbound carriageway," said Inspector Scott Long of the Joint Roads Policing Unit for Thames Valley and Hampshire.

Mr Long said investigators were keeping an "open mind" as to how the substance was left at the scene, and said that while there was no evidence the incident was terror-related, it was currently being investigated as a possible offence "with intent to cause danger to other road users".