Device discovered after fire at pub an ‘elaborate hoax’

By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

Saturday, February 06, 2010

A HOAX bomb caused major traffic disruption for motorists heading into a city during morning rush-hour.

Gardaí were forced to mount traffic diversions early yesterday when they discovered what appeared to be an explosive device at a pub.

Gardaí made the discovery as they went to the scene of a fire at a pub at Hassett’s Cross in Limerick.

For safety reasons they immediately cordoned off the area and put major traffic diversions in place.

Those diversions remained in place until an army bomb disposal unit arrived from Collins Barracks in Cork.

Army experts reported that the device was an elaborate hoax.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, a man was being questioned by gardaí in Limerick after a masked and armed raider held up Fedamore post office at around 10.30am.

Armed detectives swooped on a house in the area shortly after the raid, in which thousands of euro was taken.

The lone raider was masked and threatened staff with a knife.

He ran off with the money and got into a car, before driving away.

A short time later, armed detectives from Henry Street and Roxboro Road garda stations went to a house in the area and arrested a man in his 20s.

All of the money stolen in the raid was subsequently recovered.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, February 06, 2010