Australian Navy Base in Lockdown post "Hazardous Material" Discovery

A naval training base in Australia's state of Victoria has been locked down after "hazardous material" was found during a routine inspection and a sailor has also been arrested, security officials said Thursday.  

The 30-year-old arrested resident is a member of the Australian Defence Forces.

A police bomb squad investigating the material later said that it posed no immediate threat, BBC reports. "There has been no immediate threat, given the nature of the materials and no life has been at threat here on the site," said Victoria's Police superintendent Neil Paterson.

Local media said that the material was found in a residential unit of HMAS Cerberus, which is a naval training base on the Mornington Peninsula, 75 km (45 miles) southeast of Melbourne, Victoria's police officials said. According to Reuters, an exclusion zone of 400 meters had been declared around one of the residential apartments.

Fear of terrorist attack has been haunting Australian authorities for quite some time now. Such discoveries can alarm the panic-stricken government. In September, Australia had raised its terrorist threat level from medium to high for the first time since 2003.

"Medium" threat level indicates that an attack could occur, while "high" means an attack is likely.

Officials revealed that more than 60 Australians were fighting in Syria and northern Iraq with terrorist groups like Islamic State, and at least 15 were killed including two suicide bombers.

There are around 100 Australians actively supporting such groups. One had posted an image of his son holding a severed head on a social media site.