Device driven to police station in hijacked vehicle was “a viable explosive device" - whose who planted device have 'a reckless and callous disregard for the safety of the driver, the local community and the police officers who serve them'

By Gemma Murray
Published 21st Nov 2022, 08:52 BST
Updated 23rd Nov 2022, 11:10 BST
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The security alert in Waterside in Londonderry has now been confirmed “a viable explosive device."

In a statement this morning, Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said: "Following further technical examination of the object recovered from a hijacked vehicle outside Waterside Police Station on Sunday evening (20th November), police can now confirm it was a viable explosive device."

ACC Singleton added, "This further underlines the reckless and callous disregard by those responsible for the safety of the driver, the local community and the police officers who serve them."

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ACC Singleton concluded "I would again appeal to anyone who was in the vicinity of Milldale Crescent in Curryneirin or in the vicinity of Waterside Police Station on Sunday evening around 10.30pm, to come forward with information on 101 or through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.".

However earlier, the PSNI said the vehicle driven to a police station in Londonderry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb.

Earlier the PSNI said an obvious line of inquiry was that dissident republicans were behind an incident in the city where a delivery driver was hijacked by masked men at gunpoint and made to drive to Waterside police station on Sunday night.

On Tuesday evening, detectives from the PSNI Terrorism Investigation Unit carried out a search at a property in the Sion Mills area in relation to the Strabane attack.

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A number of items were seized and taken away for further forensic examination.

Waterside police station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. where a car containing a suspect device was parked outside the gates. The vehicle driven to the police station in Londonderry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb, a senior officer has said. Picture date: Monday November 21, 2022.Waterside police station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. where a car containing a suspect device was parked outside the gates. The vehicle driven to the police station in Londonderry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb, a senior officer has said. Picture date: Monday November 21, 2022.
Waterside police station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. where a car containing a suspect device was parked outside the gates. The vehicle driven to the police station in Londonderry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb, a senior officer has said. Picture date: Monday November 21, 2022.

Politicians from across Northern Ireland have condemned the recent security attacks.

Speaking during a visit to Londonderry on Tuesday, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill branded the recent incidents “futile and reckless”.

She said: “It causes nothing – only chaos and dysfunction to people of this city and also in Strabane.

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“I think these actions have no place in today’s society and as political leaders we must call it out when we see it.

Waterside police station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. where a car containing a suspect device was parked outside the gates. The vehicle driven to the police station in Londonderry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb, a senior officer has said. Picture date: Monday November 21, 2022.Waterside police station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. where a car containing a suspect device was parked outside the gates. The vehicle driven to the police station in Londonderry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb, a senior officer has said. Picture date: Monday November 21, 2022.
Waterside police station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. where a car containing a suspect device was parked outside the gates. The vehicle driven to the police station in Londonderry contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb, a senior officer has said. Picture date: Monday November 21, 2022.

“This could have had catastrophic implications. We could have had the loss of life of two police officers.

“These people are in conflict with the community in which they live.”

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP said that a viable explosive device left in a hijacked car outside a police station in the city ‘could have had tragic consequences’.

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Mr Eastwood said it was disgraceful that a delivery driver was forced to drive the device to a police station in the Waterside, putting his life and the lives of the public and police officers at risk.

He called on those behind the incident to end their attacks on the community.

“The people who carried out this attack are acting against the will and the wishes of our community,” Foyle MP Mr Eastwood said.

"They are targeting PSNI officers but their fight is with the people of our city who have chosen to live in peace.

"They will never win that fight.

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"Nobody in Derry or anywhere on this island wants to see violence or bloodshed and we need to see these people taken off the streets.

"We will never build a new Ireland until these groups leave the stage once and for all, they only serve to disgrace the cause they claim to support.”