Gardai are trying to identify a bomb hoaxer who caused serious traffic disruption in north Dublin yesterday morning by placing a fake device in a storm drain on the North Strand Road.
The hoaxer posted a letter through the door of a newsagent on the North Strand some time early yesterday with "Bomb Warning" written on it. The letter claimed that "explosive devices" had been planted under utility covers at North Strand, O'Connell Street, Connolly Station, Heuston Station, and Dublin Airport. The hoaxer used the name, "Total Resistance Movement".
Gardai, alerted by the shopowner, carried out a search of storm drains on the North Strand and found a device in a bag outside Harrison's hardware shop at 7.19 a.m. They cleared the area and called the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team.
The subsequent clearance exercise caused disruption for almost two hours, leading to severe traffic tailbacks across north Dublin. Morning commuter traffic on the coastal route was diverted towards the Malahide Road. No other devices were found.
There was no clear idea of the purpose of the hoax, and gardai are uncertain if the person responsible has a political, environmental or other, more personal, purpose. It is not unknown for disturbed people to embark on such actions at times of major political or other developments, such as the Northern Ireland Agreement.
According to Garda sources, the letter was well written, and there is concern that the person responsible may repeat the exercise. While the device, which was built into a 9 in by 6 in box and then placed in the hold-all, contained no explosives, gardai described it as "quite elaborate".
In an unrelated incident in north Dublin, also yesterday morning, the EOD team was called to Santry Garda station to deal with an object recovered during a search by gardai at a house in Sillogue Road, Ballymun.
Local detectives recovered a blast welding charge, used in the construction industry to weld concrete to metal, hidden in a back garden. The device, which could not explode of its own accord, was taken to the station, where it was examined and later removed by the Army. It is understood it had been stolen from an industrial unit in north Dublin.