Man arrested over alleged drug lab at Mawson

The federal bomb squad was called to a quiet suburban Canberra street on Friday morning after a police search turned up the alleged clandestine drug lab in Mawson.

Police executed a search warrant at a home on Wilkins Street about 6.30am on Friday and allegedly located at the back of the property a "fairly sophisticated, established" laboratory used for making methamphetamine.

The man arrested, who was a resident at the property, was taken to Woden police station and is due to face serious charges related to the possession and manufacturing of drugs on Friday afternoon, detective superintendent Scott Moller said.

"This is a perfect example of officers doing their job and rendering the community safe," he said.

"These laboratories emit substantial gases into the atmosphere and contaminate people and residents so they are dangerous [and] volatile. That's why we're here and we'll continue to find these and dismantle them."

Officers had entered the house before 11am on Friday with bags, but no drugs had been removed from the house because of the threat of toxic gas, detective superintendent Moller said.

ACT Fire and Rescue, which had several trucks at the scene, had been testing the air in and around the property to determine the risk to the community.

No one had been evacuated from nearby homes and the area had been cleared and made "safe".

"One of the procedures for us in relation to clandestine laboratories is to make the house or the area safe to our police and also the general public," detective superintendent Moller said.

Officers also allegedly located a number of dangerous items, separate to the drug lab, that forced them to call in the bomb squad. It was the makeup of the items and the wiring attached to them that caused the scare, but they posed no threat to the public, detective superintendent Moller said.

Five people were in the house at the time of the 32-year-old man's arrest. It's unclear if they are his family members and police are yet to determine whether they are suspects in the investigation.

The amount of illicit drugs alleged to have been found in the house was also unclear. The arrested man was previously unknown to police and a search warrant had been carried out because of intelligence gathered about the house, detective superintendent Moller said.

"We develop intelligence as part of our normal [processes]. Part of that intelligence comes from members of the public ... so we get it from a lot of different avenues and that's why we're here today," he said.

Blackened windows, residents carrying large amounts of chemicals onto their properties, and strong chemical smells could be indicators of a clandestine lab, detective superintendent Moller said.

Part of Wilkins Street near the house was expected to be closed into Friday afternoon and police

Anyone with information about the alleged drug lab is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.