Blairgowrie police station was evacuated when a member of the public unintentionally sparked a major chemical incident response.
Looking for advice, the woman went into the Ericht Lane office with a sealed container of potentially deadly potassium cyanide on Thursday evening.
Tayside Fire and Rescue were alerted to the situation at around 5.45pm and decided to seal and evacuate the building.
A major operation swung into action with fire units from Perth, Blairgowrie and Dundee attending the scene.
The response was headed by Blairgowrie watch manager Dave Penny, though station manager Kevin Lennon was called in to give specialist advice.
It was understood that a woman was clearing out her parents’ house when she discovered the substance.
”They were tidying up the house and came upon the jar of a chemical,” said Mr Lennon. ”They were not sure what to do with it and had taken it into the police.
”Unfortunately it was quite old, possibly 1920s or 30s, and the police were a bit concerned and phoned the fire brigade.”
A full ”hazmat” hazardous material response was launched but it was quickly ascertained that the jar was intact, there had been no release or spillage of the chemical and it was decided that it would be safe to leave the substance in the police station to await disposal by a specialist company.
Mr Lennon added: ”The whole thing was a precaution … per our policy on chemical incidents. It was very quickly realised that we were not required. The woman did the right thing it was all quite straightforward.”
Similar in appearance to sugar, potassium cyanide is a highly toxic substance which has applications in gold mining and electroplating processes.
It was infamously the method of suicide of Nazis Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler during the Nuremburg trials.