THE co-owner of a Co Down bar complex targeted in UVF bomb hoax on the same day as the Simon Coveney attack was not told of paramilitary connection. Kris Fletcher revealed last night that the PSNI/RUC did not tell him last weekend's alert at the No 7 Duke Bar and Restaurant in Warrenpoint was linked to the UVF.
No 7 Duke Street in Warrenpoint, Co Down, was targeted in a hoax alert last week later linked to extreme loyalist paramilitaries.
Details of the incident emerged on Thursday during a bail application (which was refused) linked to a separate hoax bomb attack which forced Irish government minister Simon Coveney to flee a cross-community peace building event in north Belfast.
Darren Service, of Ballysillin Road, faces three charges including preparation of terrorist acts, hijacking and placing a hoax bomb placed inside a vehicle. During the hearing, police detailed separate incidents said to be part of an escalation in loyalist tensions and activity.
"The way it went...
it was a hoax from somebody,
a disgruntled
customer"
On Saturday, claims were made that a bomb had been left at a bar in Warrenpoint, the court was told. The Irish News understands the Mid Ulster UVF was responsible.
The court also heard loyalist paramilitaries said on Wednesday that a device had been planted on the Belfast to Dublin train service. It is believed this was the work of the South East Antrim UDA. The PSNI/RUC last night provided more information about the Warrenpoint alert.
A spokeswoman said it received a report after 8.45pm last Saturday that "two devices had been left at licensed premises in the Duke Street of Warrenpoint". The spokeswoman said police attended "and carried out extensive searches in the building and surrounding area, and nothing untoward was found". The matter is now being treated as a hoax, she added.
Mr Fletcher said he only became aware of the loyalist paramilitary link after Thursday's court hearing. I was sent a link to the article... I have to say I was surprised... my opinion from that night and the way it went and since then was that it was a hoax from somebody, a disgruntled customer or a couple of young people, that was the impression we got rather than something as serious as, obviously paramilitaries."
Co-Owner of the Number 7 brand Kris Fletcher.
Mr Fletcher said that dance music act Cascada played his venue on Saturday. "It was a throwback night in the same sense that the artist was back from the 2000s but I didn't expect to be thrown back that far," he said. Asked if he feels the police should have told him about the loyalist paramilitary link he said: "I don't know to be honest, it's one of those things, if they tell you, what can you do?
"I don't think we are a target in any sense, I can't see why we would be a target. It was a hoax at the end of the day no matter who was doing it, they didn't find anything, it was obviously somebody trying to waist a bit of time for whatever reason."
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond has said his party colleague Simon Coveney will not be deterred after last week's attack in north Belfast." "Before the bomb hoax cut his speech short last week, minister Coveney was speaking about building common ground in *orthern Ireland," he said.
"While any violence immensely distressing and unnecessary, it will never stop minister Coveney or indeed the Irish government in doing what they are obliged to do as per the Good Friday Agreement. Minister Coveney has dedicated so much of his political career to *orthern Ireland, and this is not going to change."
With many thanks to the: The Irish News and Connla Young for the original publication.
ARSENAL OF WEAPONS AT THE READY
Notorious mural in east Belfast - ready for removal - but not just yet!
Billy Hutchinson PUP leader beneath the notorious mural in 2013. Picture by Hugh Russell.
THE UVF has enough weaponry to mount a significant campaign of violence. Paramilitary decommissioning in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement (which now the UVF and its political wing the PUP no longer support) was supposed to take the bomb and bullet off the streets, but while surrendering stockpiles of guns and explosives, significant amounts were held back. Arms dumps from the days of the Troubles remain in place dotted across the country (but a significant amount still remains in the Mid-Ulster area of Co Tyrone). The UVF retains access to an arsenal of assault rifles and handguns. And despite decommissioning, the UVF and other organisations have continued to re-arm themselves.
There are stockpiles of weapons easily accessible. The UVF and UDA have continued to bring in arms to the country. In the years following the Good Friday Agreement, eastern Europe was the epicentre of the international arms trade. In the wake of conflict in the Balkans and the dismantling of the eastern bloc, the continent was awash with weaponry. Also the emergence of east European organised crime gangs (especially in Ireland), eager to forge links with criminal organisations in the West, made the purchase of arms more accessible.
The UVF and others have also forged links with organised crime in Britain, opening up drug-running routes and with them came even more access to guns.
Threats this week to take their anti-Protocol campaign to Dublin have been played down. It is unlikely they have the resources or capable manpower to carry out such a threat.
They have very limited bomb-making capability beyond rudimentary pipe bombs, which despite their basic structure carry a significant threat to life.
With many thanks to The Sunday World and Richard Sullivan for the original publication today.
Follow these links to find out more about this story and the Mid-Ulster UVF: Mid Ulster Brigade UVF - credits to: Peter Moloney.
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