Fourth suspicious package found at university is linked to IRA dissidents
‘There is nothing to indicate motivation of the sender or ideology’
A SUSPICIOUS package delivered to the University of Glasgow is the fourth in a series of letter bombs believed to have been sent by Irish dissidents, police confirmed last night.
The university was evacuated after staff became concerned following the receipt of a parcel just a day after three improvised explosive devices were sent to transport hubs across London.
Specialist officers carried out a controlled explosion on the package. Police said the package was being linked to the investigation being carried out by Metropolitan Police into the three small devices send to Heathrow airport, London City airport and Waterloo station from Ireland.
Police Scotland confirmed they were liaising with counter-terrorism colleagues in London.
Steve Johnson, assistant chief constable, said: “There are similarities in the package, its marking and the type of device that was recovered in Glasgow to those in London.”
The crude incendiary devices were understood to be similar to those sent to Army recruitment offices in January prompting fears of a fresh campaign by the dissident group, the New IRA. Two men, aged 35 and 46, and two women, aged 44 and 21, all from Londonderry, were arrested in connection with that alleged plot five years ago, but nobody was ever charged.
The dissident Republican group, which split from the Real IRA in 2012, has been stepping up its activities in recent months. Tensions have been rising in Northern Ireland amid uncertainty over the border after Brexit.
Nobody was hurt in the latest round of incidents, but the device sent to Heathrow ignited when it was opened. Security sources said the packages had not been designed to kill but could have injured anyone handling them.
Irish counter-terror police confirmed that they were assisting Scot2014, land Yard with the investigation after it emerged that the parcels bore Irish Republic stamps and even had Dublin addresses marked on the envelopes.
The stamps appeared to have been issued by the Irish postal service for Valentine’s Day 2018, featuring a heart motif and the words “Love Eire N”.
The senders’ addresses were given as Dublin, with the one addressed to Waterloo appearing to add the transport company, Bus Eireann.
While no group had claimed responsibility for the devices, sources said they bore the hallmarks of packages sent by the New IRA.
Dept Asst Commissioner Dean Haydon, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said there was still no clear motivation behind the incidents.
He said: “There’s nothing to indicate motivation of the sender or ideology, so I cannot confirm if it’s connected to any Ireland-related terrorist groups.”