Australian police have arrested a man with at least 14 explosive devices similar to pipe bombs in a raid on his suburban Sydney apartment.
Australia is on a heightened security alert in the wake of the October 12 bombing of two nightclubs on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali which killed up to 190 people, including up to 90 Australians.
Police stumbled on the devices after officials tried to serve an eviction notice on an Australian resident believed to be of South Africa origin in Sydney's southwestern suburb of Liverpool. Residents of the block were evacuated but bomb squad technicians called to the scene quickly established there was no danger to the public.
"It is believed that the devices could not be detonated in their current state," the police said in a statement. Australian media described the 14 containers as soda siphons. Police said they contained a substance they suspected was ammonium nitrate -- a fertiliser commonly used in home-made bombs -- and metal fragments.
"The exact motive is unknown and we'll have to explore every possible reason why he he had those explosive devices, whether they be religious, political, ideological...it's just too early to tell," police spokesman Dave Madden told Channel 9 television.
Police and foreign officials have warned Australians to be on alert during Christmas and New Year holiday celebrations which traditionally attract thousands of people to the centre of the harbour-side city.
On Thursday, Sydney police and emergency services carried out an exercise to test their counter-terrorism capabilities against a "terrorist cell" hiding chemical, biological and radiological weapons. Officials said a nationwide test of counter-terrorism capabilities would be held early next year.