Controlled explosions were carried out on two nail bombs at Limerick prison yesterday in the latest security breach at the jail.
The alarm was first raised at 10.30 a.m. when prison officers found the first of two suspect devices in the yard near the kitchen area. It was immediately evacuated and alternative lunch arrangements were made for more than 200 inmates and staff.
As members of the Army bomb disposal team were examining the device, they discovered a second one in the exercise yard. This was shortly before 3 p.m.
Controlled explosions were carried out on both devices which were described as metal containers - approximately six inches long - containing nails and powder with wires and fuses attached. It was not clear last night if they had been thrown over the 20-foot perimeter wall or if they had originated inside the prison.
An Army spokesman said: "The Explosives Ordnance Disposal Unit rendered both devices safe and the contents have been sent to the forensic laboratory for further examination."
Prison sources said the latest security breach was part of a further escalation in tensions between members of feuding criminal factions at the prison. "We have so many people involved in the ongoing Limerick feud in separate wings at the prison now that tensions are very high. It's only a matter of time before someone is killed inside the prison with the amount of homemade weapons getting in," said one prison source.
Staff have been concerned about changes in security practices during construction work at the prison. This includes a new wing which will accommodate 106 additional prisoners, some of whom have already arrived following the closure of Spike Island prison. Earlier this week, it emerged that visitors to the jail were no longer being searched for drugs or weapons.
The practice was temporarily suspended after prefab units at the main entrance were removed during the construction work. These had previously been used for screening visitors.
Yesterday's security alert follows last month's inquiry into the smuggling of a suspect package into the prison. On January 23rd CCTV footage showed a suspect parcel on a window ledge at the prisoners' workshop. It was later picked up by an inmate, prompting a major search of the prison amid fears that it may have contained a gun. The searches yielded a number of weapons, but no firearms were discovered.