Viable device at school Ballymena Road Antrim
06 Sep 2010
A viable device has been found following a security alert at a school in Antrim.
The alert commenced at the school on Ballymena Road shortly before 8:30am on Monday, 6 September, when a child found a suspicious object and carried it into the classroom. Pupils were evacuated to a local church hall.
A second security alert was also declared at another school in Antrim shortly after 10.30am following a phone warning to a local media outlet. Pupils at the school on Greystone Road were also evacuated.
Army Technical Officers attended and examined the suspicious object. This was declared a viable, pipe bomb type device and was taken away for further forensic examination.
Searches were carried out at the school on Greystone Road and nothing untoward was found.
Chief Inspector Simon Walls, area commander for the district, has roundly condemned those responsible for these alerts.
“I cannot express enough my disgust at the cowards involved in these alerts today. To target the general public is never acceptable by any means but to take away the secure feelings of innocent children and to put them at risk like this is beyond despicable. It is by sheer good fortune that we are not dealing with a severely injured child right now.
“The people who carry out these senseless acts show a total disregard for their fellow man and are not part of the society within which the majority of people of Northern Ireland wish to live.
“I am more determined than ever that we will, with the help of our community colleagues and local residents, bring these cowardly criminals to justice. And I ask them for their continued support to enable us to efficiently and effectively alienate those who continue to be involved in terrorism and criminality."
Anyone with information in relation to these two alerts is asked to contact police in Antrim on 0845 600 8000. Information about crime can also be passed anonymously to the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.
