Brexit day bomb on lorry ‘would have caused carnage’
POLICE have released images of a bomb planted by a splinter IRA group intended to be detonated on Brexit night, in a plot that would have caused “carnage”.
The device, comprising a number of parts including wires, was recovered by police attached to a lorry that dissident republicans had believed was bound for an Irish Sea ferry.
It is believed there had been a plan to detonate it to mark Brexit.
Asst Chief Constable George Clarke, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said the carnage that could have been caused if the device had exploded was worrying to contemplate.
Officers blamed the Continuity IRA for the attempted terror attack.
The renegade group entered the yard of a Co Armagh-based company specialising in the transportation of frozen goods and attached the bomb to a heavy goods vehicle they thought was destined for a late-night ferry crossing to Scotland.
But officers suspect the dissidents selected the wrong vehicle, as the trailer did not leave the premises in Lurgan on the Friday.
The device was finally discovered at the yard on Monday night after a police search. The security alert was prompted when the Belfast newspaper The Irish News received a warning on the Friday night that a device had been left on a trailer in Belfast docks.
Yesterday, the PSNI released two photographs of the device and an appeal for information.
Det Supt Sean Wright said the images “demonstrate the sheer recklessness”
‘[The images] demonstrate the sheer recklessness of those who knowingly put the driver and public at risk’
of those behind the plot.
“Today I am releasing two photographs of the device found attached to a heavy goods vehicle in the Silverwood Industrial Estate,” he said.
“These images clearly show the explosive device attached to the lorry. They also demonstrate the sheer recklessness of those who knowingly put the driver, road users and the wider public at risk of death or serious injury.
“I continue to appeal to anyone who was in the area of Silverwood Industrial Estate between 4pm and 10pm on Friday January 31 and who may have noticed any unusual activity in the area to contact police.”