SPECIAL POLICE TEAM INVESTIGATING BOMB HOAXES
Special police team investigating bomb hoaxes
By: JACQUELINE COURTNEY
A SPECIAL police team, based in Omagh, has been assigned to investigate the recent bomb hoaxes which continue to cause distress over a wide area, the Herald has learned.
Over the past number of weeks the County town and neighbouring villages have been at the receiving end of a spate of sickening hoax calls.
A Police spokesperson said yesterday that a dedicated team of police officers had been assigned to investigate, 'as a matter of urgency', all aspects of these hoax calls.
She said that calls had been the subject of a ongoing investigation and she appealed to the public for assistance in rooting out the perpetrators.
"We need the public to be our eyes and ears in these matters," she said.
Anyone with information is asked to phone the detectives at Omagh RUC Station 01662 246177. All calls will be treated in confidence.
As Omagh began to get back to normal after the major security alert last Wednesday, the town found itself cruelly thrown into turmoil again, on Thursday night.
A call was made at 11.30 pm that a bomb had been placed at the lower end of the town at Campsie. That resulted in Campsie Road being evacuated for several hours before the call was declared a hoax. Emergency Services were alerted to the drama.
It is understood that local people sought refuge in the nearby Ulsterbus depot during the security alert.
Then on Sunday it was the turn of the people of Newtownstewart to be caught up in a similar drama of uncertainty.
According to police, a call was made at 6.30 pm that the bomb would go off in the town centre at 9.00 pm. All roads to the town were closed and traffic was diverted as the security operation got underway.
At 9.05 pm, the call was finally declared a hoax.
SDLP Assembly Member for West Tyrone, Joe Byrne condemned the Newtownstewart hoax.
"The frequency of these bomb hoaxes over the past two weeks is alarming.
"Those responsible for the Newtownstewart hoax have not only caused unnecessary disruption to local local and people from further afield attending the Drama Festival, but they are also displaying their total disregard for the community and increasing tension in this climate of political uncertainty."
The devastation caused by the bomb alerts in Omagh town were also condemned by local councillor, Johnny McLaughlin.
"The hoods who are causing such devastation in an area which has seen the atrocity caused by the bomb in August 1998 must be the most low-life scum of the earth.
"It beggars belief that anyone could stoop so low as to frighten people who have previously been witness to such a disaster, in a way which caused them the greatest fear they had ever known" added the irate councillor.
These bomb alerts are leaving people to scared to come to Omagh and are therefore affecting the rebuilding of businesses here"
Concluding he said that people that had lost loved ones were being asked to relive the nightmare over and over again not knowing if the same thing was going to happen again or not by these mindless scum.
By: JACQUELINE COURTNEY
A SPECIAL police team, based in Omagh, has been assigned to investigate the recent bomb hoaxes which continue to cause distress over a wide area, the Herald has learned.
Over the past number of weeks the County town and neighbouring villages have been at the receiving end of a spate of sickening hoax calls.
A Police spokesperson said yesterday that a dedicated team of police officers had been assigned to investigate, 'as a matter of urgency', all aspects of these hoax calls.
She said that calls had been the subject of a ongoing investigation and she appealed to the public for assistance in rooting out the perpetrators.
"We need the public to be our eyes and ears in these matters," she said.
Anyone with information is asked to phone the detectives at Omagh RUC Station 01662 246177. All calls will be treated in confidence.
As Omagh began to get back to normal after the major security alert last Wednesday, the town found itself cruelly thrown into turmoil again, on Thursday night.
A call was made at 11.30 pm that a bomb had been placed at the lower end of the town at Campsie. That resulted in Campsie Road being evacuated for several hours before the call was declared a hoax. Emergency Services were alerted to the drama.
It is understood that local people sought refuge in the nearby Ulsterbus depot during the security alert.
Then on Sunday it was the turn of the people of Newtownstewart to be caught up in a similar drama of uncertainty.
According to police, a call was made at 6.30 pm that the bomb would go off in the town centre at 9.00 pm. All roads to the town were closed and traffic was diverted as the security operation got underway.
At 9.05 pm, the call was finally declared a hoax.
SDLP Assembly Member for West Tyrone, Joe Byrne condemned the Newtownstewart hoax.
"The frequency of these bomb hoaxes over the past two weeks is alarming.
"Those responsible for the Newtownstewart hoax have not only caused unnecessary disruption to local local and people from further afield attending the Drama Festival, but they are also displaying their total disregard for the community and increasing tension in this climate of political uncertainty."
The devastation caused by the bomb alerts in Omagh town were also condemned by local councillor, Johnny McLaughlin.
"The hoods who are causing such devastation in an area which has seen the atrocity caused by the bomb in August 1998 must be the most low-life scum of the earth.
"It beggars belief that anyone could stoop so low as to frighten people who have previously been witness to such a disaster, in a way which caused them the greatest fear they had ever known" added the irate councillor.
These bomb alerts are leaving people to scared to come to Omagh and are therefore affecting the rebuilding of businesses here"
Concluding he said that people that had lost loved ones were being asked to relive the nightmare over and over again not knowing if the same thing was going to happen again or not by these mindless scum.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1333
Published Date: 02-Mar-00
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