Breaking: a number of homes in Belfast City Centre are being evacuated

Motorists are being advised to avoid the area.

A number of houses in Belfast have been evacuated after a "suspicious package" was found this afternoon.

The PSNI rushed to Cromwell Road in Belfast following the discovery. Motorists are being advised to avoid the area. A spokesperson for the PSNI said on Twitter: "The Cromwell Road is closed following a suspicious package found this afternoon." "A number of properties have been evacuated and the road has been closed at junction of Wolseley St and Ireton St, junction of Cromwell St and Botanic Ave and junction of Cromwell St & Lawrence St." This news comes as a wave of suspicious packages have been arriving in areas of the UK. Yesterday, part of Glasgow University was evacuated as a number of strange packages were discovered in the mail room. Earlier in the week, suspicious packages were sent to London City and Gatwick Airport, along with Waterloo station. The packages were delivered with Irish stamps, with a number of people suspecting it was the work of dissidents. However, a source told the Irish Sun: “This looks more like some lone wolf oddball rather than dissidents to be honest.”