A rusting rocket discovered in a man’s garage in Washington state is in fact an inert nuclear missile, police have said.

Authorities contacted a man in Bellevue after he called the Air Force Museum offering to donate a military-grade rocket that belonged to his late neighbour. He said that his neighbour had bought the item from an estate sale.

Bellevue police bomb squad technicians said it was a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, an unguided air-to-air rocket that is designed to carry a 1.5kt W25 nuclear warhead. They said there was no warhead attached and there was no danger of an explosion.