Police discuss possible Brexit bomb attack

The Police Service of Northern Ireland have claimed that a bomb found in County Armagh may have been intended for a Brexit day attack.

Officers said that they first received a report about an explosive device in a lorry at Belfast docks on 31 January - the date the UK left the EU. The lorry was due to travel by ferry to Scotland and a search was conducted but nothing was found.

On 3 February, the device was uncovered attached to a lorry at Silverwood Industrial Estate in Lurgan, although the size of the device has not been disclosed. Police believe dissident republicans were responsible.

Det Supt Sean Wright said that the only conclusion that police can draw is ‘that once again dissident republicans have shown a total disregard for the community, for businesses and for wider society’. He also said that, had the device exploded at any point along the M1, across the Westlink or into the Harbour estate, the ‘risks posed do not bear thinking about’.

The Freight Transport Association called the attack ‘reckless’, saying that the ‘consequences could have been catastrophic’.