Gardaí probe motive after pipe bomb defused

on 06/07/2012 00:00:00

Supt Tom Myers, who is leading the investigation, said they have not yet been able to establish a clear motive for the placing of the device under a car in the Mayfield area. But he said they have interviewed the owner of the car and several other individuals as part of their investigation.

They are also awaiting the outcome of forensic tests on the device which has been sent to Garda Headquarters in Dublin for analysis.

"This was a very serious incident," Supt Myers said. "This was a viable device that could have caused very serious injury if it had exploded. We are following several lines of enquiry and we would appeal for anyone with information to contact us."

An incident room has been set up at Mayfield Garda Station and he appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

Door-to-door enquiries were taking place in the Old Youghal Road area throughout the day, and detectives are also examining CCTV footage taken from several business premises in the area.

The alarm was raised at around 2.20am yesterday when a member of the public spotted a suspect device under a car parked on the road outside the Cow pub on the Old Youghal Road.

He dialled 999 and gardaí cordoned off the area before calling in the army bomb disposal team.

Some residents had to be evacuated from nearby properties while the bomb squad went to work.

They were able to render the device safe at the scene without the need for a controlled explosion.

It is understood the device comprised a small container stuffed with up to 70 long steel nails with either an accelerant, or a powder-form of explosive attached.

Supt Myers confirmed that it was a viable device and that it had the potential to cause serious injury or death had it gone off.

The scene was declared safe at 4.30am.

It was the bomb squad's 112th call out this year and the 44th viable IED rendered safe.