NI Taxi Driver Picked Up Bomb

A security alert today saw a lucky escape for a plucky taxi driver who found a suspicious object in Strabane, a border town in Co Tyrone.

The road was cordoned off and Army bomb experts tasked to examine what turned out to be a pipe bomb which driver Andy Gallagher placed in his own car to be taken to a nearby field at Bradley Way before phoning the police.

The police have since confirmed it was a viable pipe bomb and said that Bradley Way remains closed.

The alert began at 8.20am after Mr Gallagher picked up the object from inside a parked car which was at Ballycolman Lane. He said that a window of the vehicle had been smashed.

Bravely, he said he did not think he had put himself in any danger but was concerned for the safety of others in taking the action he did.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin MLA for South Antrim Mitchell McLaughlin has slammed those responsible for leaving a device at the PSNI station in Crumlin yesterday.

He said that it is as stupid and senseless as the leaving of a pipe bomb in St Comgalls in Antrim earlier in the week: "The recklessness of this action shows that whoever is behind it has little regard for this community. It will do little to achieve any sort of political aims and those responsible must realise that.

"The community do not want this, and have said that time and time again. It is high time that these senseless actions stopped," he said.

Alliance Antrim Councillor Alan Lawther has also expressed his shock at security alert in Crumlin in which a device was found in the grounds of the local police station: "I just can not understand the thinking of those who have left these devices in Antrim and Crumlin."

"I would urge anybody with any information about this device to contact the police. These people must be taken off the streets by the police before somebody is killed by these devices."

The school at the centre of yesterday's alert will today remain closed for a second day.

Yesterday, about 170 children at Crumlin Integrated Primary School had to be moved to a nearby community centre after a device was left inside the perimeter fence of an unmanned PSNI station.

Today, the police have confirmed the device which was found close to the school was "viable."

It is the third school to have been affected by security alerts in the Antrim area.

A pipe bomb was picked up by an eight-year-old pupil in the playground at St Comgall's Primary School on Monday. It was apparently left by loyalists.

Also on Monday, children were evacuated from St Josephs on the Greystone Road after a telephone bomb warning, but nothing suspicious was found.

(BMcC/GK)