POLICE today revealed that a suspicious white powder discovered at the premises of a Sittingbourne-based company was the work of a hoaxer (Stuart Somers writes).

It was found yesterday afternoon by staff at the firm of Galleon, based at the Sittingbourne Research Centre, off the town’s Broad Oak Road.

Kent’s Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas said today: “We are definitely treating the incident as a malicious act but I would like to reassure staff and local residents that we believe it was a spiteful hoax.

“This was the first test of our major incident unit involving all agencies such as police, fire and ambulance. We have already held an initial debrief and will see how we can improve our measures for any future incidents.”

Galleon is involved in the distribution and sales of various magazines including BBC publications such as Hello and Private Eye.

About 70 staff there underwent a full decontamination following the discovery of the flour-like substance which spilled out a letter.

They all had to have showers in a special tent set up at the site and water was not allowed to disperse onto the road or streams.

Sittingbourne fire station commander Tim Gibson said: “I was the first fire officer on the scene and we immediately treated this as a major incident.”

Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham was put on full alert. Spokesman Davd Green said: “Our emergency procedures sprung into action and hospital staff were placed on standby. In the event the situation was contained at the research centre and thankfully there were no casualties.”

KM-fm's Jenny Keeling has more...