Two defunct police stations in Co Tyrone were auctioned for more than £1 million sterling yesterday.
Bidding outstripped expectations as the sites, each around a third of an acre, were sold to undisclosed buyers for expected property development. A disused station in Dromore, still with its buildings and security walls, reached £630,000.
It was sold to an unnamed businessman understood to be from the area. And the land where Ballygawley station had stood until its demolition fetched £600,000. An agent from Belfast agreed the fee for a client.
Omagh estate agent Robert Pollock, who took the auction at the town's Showgrounds, said the prices went beyond what was predicted for the bases shut down as part of a major overhaul of PSNI stations.
He said: "There was a good demand, about 70 people there, bidding was brisk and it was all over in a couple of minutes. "We were quite pleased with what they reached. "In my opinion both will be used for residential or commercial use."
But Barry McElduff, a Sinn Fein MLA for West Tyrone, hit out at the decision to let the land fall into private hands. He claimed government departments could have had first refusal to use the sites to build accommodation for some of those struggling to get onto the property ladder.