Alarm was caused at Nelson Police Station on Saturday morning when a member of public arrived with a wartime hand grenade.
The man used the yellow phone outside the station in Broadway at about 8-30am to report that he had discovered the grenade in his grandfather’s wardrobe at an address in Barrowford.
He was told to keep the suspicious package in his car and bring it into the police station car park at the rear until the object could be checked out by a specialist explosive team from Catterick.
However, on arrival, the grenade was found to be deactivated but was taken away.
Sgt Kim de Curtis said: “A man came to Nelson with an object on Saturday but was obviously told to keep out of the station. Nowhere was evacuated and the package was made safe.”