Device driven to Derry police station was elaborate hoax ‘made to look like car bomb’
A car containing a suspect device is seen outside Waterside police station in Derry, Northern Ireland. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire.
A vehicle driven to a police station in Derry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb, a senior officer has said.
Police said an obvious line of inquiry was that dissident republicans were behind an incident in the city where a delivery driver was hijacked by masked men at gunpoint and made to drive to Waterside police station on Sunday night.
The driver was able to raise the alarm and the PSNI said a “public safety operation” was immediately implemented.
PSNI Chief Superintendent Nigel Goddard said the suspect device was an elaborate hoax made to look like a car bomb.
“It is an elaborate hoax device, meant to look like a car bomb. There seems to be a petrol canister with a pipe attached to it," he said.
Supt Goddard acknowledged the significant disruption caused by the operation describing it as "massive chaos".
“People had to be moved out of their homes.
“Children couldn’t go to school this morning while access to Altnagelvin Hospital for staff and those in need of medical help was impacted.
“The actions of those behind what was an attack on the community are reckless and futile.
“We hope the driver who was caught up in this horrific ordeal can recover and our thoughts are with him today.
“Despite the cowardly and senseless efforts of a few, the community in Derry City and Strabane can be assured that their local officers will continue to work to keep them safe.”
Asked if police believed dissident republicans were responsible for the latest attack, the officer said: “It is the obvious line of inquiry at the minute.
“My colleague on Friday thought given the location and nature the New IRA was the most likely grouping and I have nothing to disagree with that at this point in time.”
While cordons remain in place in the wider Crescent Link area of Derry as officers conduct their enquiries, the main Crescent Link has reopened.
The Taoiseach has condemned the incident in the “strongest possible manner”.
Micheál Martin said he is “concerned” by the incident coming within days of an attack on PSNI officers.
Speaking in Shankill, Co Wicklow, Mr Martin said there is “no more room” for violence in Northern Ireland.
“I would be concerned,” Mr Martin said.
“These are two incidents now within a week. I think we’d have to be very, very clear to people that the people on this island and people in Northern Ireland want no more violence. They want politics to work.
“We condemn utterly anybody who’s contemplating violence, or anyone in paramilitary organisations that believe they have a right to impose such barbarity and violence on people, hijacking vehicles, hijacking drivers and so on. We condemn that in the strongest possible manner.
He added that those contemplating violence should be aware that the “full rigours” of the law will be applied and the strongest co-operation between An Garda Síochána and the PSNI continues to exist.
“We will work together to try and make sure that such efforts don’t gain any strength,” he added.
Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill said the community needed to unite against “these reckless actions”.
She tweeted: “Reports from Derry extremely concerning. Have spoken to PSNI for assessment.
“More chaos and disruption for the local community. These people that reach for the past need to hear that’s it’s not available to them.
“We must all unite against these reckless actions.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said those behind the security alert had nothing to offer.
Mr Eastwood told BBC Radio Foyle: “We have been told that a van was hijacked and the man asked to drive the van to the police station.”
“What always happens in these situations is that the ordinary people of this city are put at risk by people who have nothing to offer and are trying to tell people they just exist.”
DUP MLA Gary Middleton said: “I was on the ground all night. I commend the community centre staff for rallying to help families.
“Babies who needed milk. Children who needed somewhere to sleep. Nurses coming off shift who needed somewhere to lie down.
“The disruption has been incredible but so has the community response.”
Last week, police said they were investigating the possibility that the New IRA were behind a bomb attack on a police vehicle in Strabane, Co Tyrone, in which two officers escaped injury.
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