Cyanide alert after Lancashire industrial estate burglary

Police have issued a county-wide alert after 200 metal balls coated in cyanide were stolen in a factory burglary.

Officers fear contact with the items could prove fatal and have urged the thieves to hand them in as soon as possible.

The balls, which are approximately the size of cricket balls and are used in the aerospace industry, were taken in a raid on an industrial estate in Poulton on Sunday. They were contained in metal vessels within vats of cyanide.