IRA’S BREXIT PLOT TO BOMB FERRY
Dissident group’s explosive device found by cops on truck bound for mainland
IRISH terrorists plotted to blow up a ferry bound for the mainland on Brexit Day, police have revealed.
Officers believe it was planted by Continuity IRA thugs on a lorry due to cross from Belfast.
A device was found five days later and defused. One expert said: “The consequences could have been catastrophic.”
IRISH terror thugs intended to kill or maim hundreds of innocent ferry passengers by attaching a bomb to a lorry, police said last night.
Luckily, the device was found and made safe before it went off.
Officers believe it was planted by the Continuity IRA.
Police received a tip-off last Friday, Brexit Day, that a bomb was intended for a ferry due to sail from Belfast to Scotland.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Det Supt Sean Wright said: “It is clear that dissident republicans deliberately and recklessly attached an explosive device to a heavy goods vehicle in the full knowledge that it would put people at serious risk of injury and possible death.
“Had the device exploded, the risks do not bear thinking about.”
Ferries from Belfast to Scotland can carry up to 1,300 passengers.
The Freight Transport Association’s Seamus Leheny said: “It [the bomb] could have put people in serious danger.
“The consequences could have been catastrophic.”
Detectives were told a device was on a lorry in Belfast docks last Friday. Nothing was found. On Monday, a report warned a bomb was attached to a truck. After a two-day search, involving
400 vehicles, it was found on a vehicle at Silverwood Industrial Estate in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
Police believe the cynical terrorists hoped the driver would unwittingly take the vehicle the 57 miles to Belfast docks then on to a ferry bound for Cairnryan, near Stranraer.
The device was defused by Army bomb disposal officers.
One source claimed the plot was scuppered when the lorry stayed at the industrial estate instead of heading to the ferry.
They said: “This looks like a last-minute dash to get a bomb on a vehicle destined for the UK.
“If they planned to have it blow up as Brexit happened they were too late. The job was botched but the bomb was viable and deadly.”
Another source claimed: “It was not meant to go off on the boat but in the Scottish harbour.”
It was also suggested the terrorists became aware of a fault with the bomb and called police, which allowed it to be discovered.
Unlike the New IRA – who are younger, left-wing and politically motivated – the CIRA are said to be hardline Catholics radicalised by Sinn Fein’s support for gay marriage and abortion rights.
One ex-terrorist said: “They are older, experienced fighters disillusioned with Sinn Fein.”