PSNI releases photographs of bomb intended for Irish Sea ferry

Police believe Continuity IRA planned to detonate device on ship to Scotland last Friday

Police in Northern Ireland have released images of the bomb which dissident republicans intended to detonate on an Irish Sea ferry as the UK left the EU last week.

They show an explosive device, which is made up of a number of parts including wires and a pipe, attached to the underside of a lorry.

It was discovered in Silverwood Industrial Estate in Lurgan, Co Armagh, on Tuesday.

PSNI Detective Superintendent Sean Wright said the images “demonstrate the sheer recklessness of those who knowingly put the driver, road users and the wider public at risk of death or serious injury.”

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He reissued a police appeal for information from anyone who was in the industrial estate between 4pm and 10pm on Friday, January 31st, or anyone who had dash-cam footage, to contact police “as a matter of urgency”.

The PSNI believe the Continuity IRA was responsible for the attempt to bomb the ferry on January 31st.

Assistant Chief Constable George Clarke said a call was made to a media outlet on January 31st to say that there was a bomb on the trailer of a lorry at Belfast port which was due to travel on the "midnight boat".

In a further call to a media outlet on Monday, the caller stated that the intention “had been for that device to explode on Friday evening around the time that the UK left the EU.”

Police sources believe the bombers attached the device to the wrong trailer, which remained in the industrial estate for several days until it was discovered.

The device was made safe by British army bomb experts. Nobody was injured.

Freya McClements

Freya McClements

Freya McClements is Northern Editor of The Irish Times