White House on lockdown as Secret Service respond to 'suspicious package'

Donald Trump is at G20 in Japan

The White House, photographed last year, has been on lock down three times in two weeks (Getty)

The White House was placed on lockdown as Secret Service agents investigated a “suspicious package”, the third such security alert there in recent weeks.

Agents said members of the service’s uniformed division had been alerted to reports of a suspicious package on Pennsylvania Ave, on which the White House is located.

They said Pennsylvania Ave, between 15th St to 17th St, had been closed, as had nearby Lafayette Park.

With Donald Trump and a large number of his staff attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, it appeared those inside the building were not receiving any fast updates as to what was happening.

Tejinder Singh, the White House correspondent with India America, tweeted: “Already 35 minutes have got behind us @WhiteHouse lockdown and no one told us anything yet @SecretService.“

This appeared to be the third time in two weeks that the White House had been placed on lockdown.

On Monday, with the president in the building, people were ordered to remain inside the White House as agents responded to reports of a suspicious package, also on Pennsylvania Avenue.

That order last around two-and-half hours.

“We are literally locked in here,” wrote Megan Pratz, a reporter for Cheddar.

“We can’t see much but Secret Service officers just ran across the lawn.”

Last week, there was a brief lockdown after a person was detained after allegedly dropping a backpack and attempting to jump a bike rack outside the White House.

An hour after the lockdown, officials said the alarm had been lifted. "Secret Service and @DCPoliceDept have determined the package to be safe and all street closures have been lifted," the service wrote on Twitter.