Explosive device disarmed in St. Petersburg's nine-story residential apartment, building evacuated

A nine-story residential building in St Petersburg,Russia was evacuated after suspicious object was found in the apartment on Friday. The explosive device was disarmed in St. Petersburg apartment building, city authorities told Russian media.

“An explosive device has been located and disarmed,” Konstantin Serov, head of the administration of the district where the device was located, told TASS.
All residents of the building were brought to safety and sheltered in a nearby kindergarten, TASS added. 

Local residents told a local news portal that people from Central Asia were renting the apartment where the police made their search.

According to the news portal, at least three men were seen being escorted by police in handcuffs. According to reports, the owners of the apartment were absent when the searches were conducted. The men who were found there will be investigated by police, he added.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said, according to Russian news agencies, that the object found on Friday in an apartment building on Saint Petersburg's eastern outskirts could contain explosives. Residents have been evacuated and explosives experts have started working on the site.

More news to follow on this incident...