Continuity IRA blamed for Brexit Day bomb plot on ferry bound for Scotland
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable George Clarke said the 'carnage' that could have been caused if the device had exploded was worrying to contemplate
Police in Northern Ireland believe dissident republicans planted a bomb on a lorry they believed was bound for a ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan with a plan to detonate it to mark Brexit.
Officers have blamed the Continuity IRA for the botched terror bid last Friday night.
The renegade group entered the yard of a company specialising in the transportation of frozen goods and attached the bomb to a heavy goods vehicle they appear to think was destined for a late-night ferry crossing to Scotland.
But officers believe the dissidents selected the wrong vehicle, as the trailer containing the bomb did not leave its premises on Friday.
The device was finally discovered at the premises on Monday night after an intensive police search operation.
The security alert was prompted when the Belfast newspaper the Irish News received a coded warning on Friday night that a device had been left on a trailer in Belfast docks.
George Clarke, Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable in charge of Brexit, said the warning was “sparse and limited”.
He said it claimed that the bomb would be on the midnight ferry, when there was no ferry scheduled to depart at that time.
A major police search operation instead focused on a late night Stenaline ferry to Cairnryan. When nothing was found, the ferry was allowed to sail at 11.16pm.
The Irish News then received a further call on Monday.
“That call contained substantially more detail,” said Mr Clarke.
“It gave us the detail of a commercial haulage company and it indicated that the device had been left on a vehicle on a trailer connected to that company and the intention had been for that device to explode on Friday evening at around the time the United Kingdom left the European Union.”
Mr Clarke accused CIRA of “callous and reckless” behaviour that could have exposed the public to huge risk.
Galloway MSP Finlay Carson told us he’ll be monitoring the situation closely: “This is something that’s come as a great surprise, and I’ll be doing as much as I can to find out the motives, and what measures the police are taking to ensure that this can’t happen again.”
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