ARMY experts took 17 canisters containing an unknown substance from a house in Cowley for analysis at a specialist centre yesterday.

The containers had been discovered at a house in Brasenose Driftway earlier in the week, leading to the road being closed with only residents and members of the public with a reason to pass through allowed onto the road. A digger had been spotted in the front garden on Thursday.

The road was reopened yesterday after 621 EOD Squadron Royal Logistic Corps, based at RAF Northolt, removed the canisters and took them to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down, Dorset, for analysis.

Thames Valley Police officers have also left the scene, which they had been previously patrolling, with only one security guard on site behind metal fences.

The substance inside the canisters is believed to have led to soil contamination, which workmen at the empty house had reported to police, who subsequently rang the Army on Tuesday evening.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said it was unable to provide further details of the size of the canisters, what they were made of or what was inside them.

No timescale was given for when the analysis of the substance might be complete.

Yesterday Brasenose Driftway resident Justyna Szlufik renewed calls for the substance found in the canisters to be revealed to the public.