Treatment of hoax bomb driver 'warped and downright irresponsible': Police Federation

Police said the possibility that dissident republicans were behind the incident late on Sunday evening is being investigated.

Around 10.30pm, three masked men hijacked the delivery driver in the Curryneirin area of the Waterside.

An elaborate device made to look like a bomb was then place in his van and he was ordered to abandon it outside the police base.

Chairman Liam Kelly, said the hijacking and subsequent disruption cannot be justified.

“This is reprehensible. The people who terrorised a delivery driver and then caused wholesale, unacceptable disruption to the community are morally bankrupt and heartless individuals,” he said.

“They are warped and downright irresponsible. To go to these lengths with a device that was an elaborate hoax shows that these are people who don’t care what upset or damage they cause by their reckless actions.”

Mr Kelly said there is nothing to be achieved by such criminal acts.

"They are deluding themselves if they think they are advancing some kind of political goal by inflicting misery, inconvenience and disruption on young and old alike in the community,” he said.

Mr Kelly added: “They need to stop these reckless actions. The people behind this incident must be condemned and shunned.

"People know who they are, and my appeal is to tell the police what you know so they can apprehend them and bring them before the courts.”

On Thursday night, PSNI officers escaped injury when an explosive device caused damage to their patrol vehicle in Strabane.

That attack in the Mount Carmel Heights area of the town is believed to have been carried out by the so-called New IRA.

Assistant Chief Constable Singleton said that incident is being treated as attempted murder.