Security alert at Connolly Station

GARDAÍ ARE investigating the placing of a suspicious package at Dublin's Connolly Station yesterday which led to a controlled explosion.

The device turned out to be an "elaborate hoax" but the line was closed for a time, disrupting early morning commuters.

A security alert was raised yesterday morning after rail staff found the suspicious package 150 metres south of the station at about 3am. They alerted gardaí when the found the package during a standard track inspection. The Army bomb disposal unit arrived at about 4am. The device looked like a pipe bomb, according to Defence Forces' spokesman Comdt Gavin Young. He said the device "had piece of metal pipe and a lunch box with components". However, he said there was no explosive content.

Iarnród Éireann spokesman Barry Kenny said the staff were "sufficiently alarmed" at the elaborate device that a controlled explosion was carried out at about 5am.

The line and station were closed to commuters until about 6.30am. Early morning trains on the Maynooth line were delayed and early morning Dart services were also disrupted.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times