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POLICE IN NORTHERN Ireland have released images of a grenade filled with nails which they said could have caused ‘serious injury or death’ if it had exploded.
The grenade was seized last May but the PSNI made the images public today after two men arrested in connection with the discovery were sentenced to jail.
The men, Thomas Hamill and Martin Gilloway, both aged 41, were arrested after police officers stopped a car in Dungannon and seized seven grenades. Both men were sentenced to jail for five years today after pleading guilty to possession of explosives with intent, with another five years on licence.
The PSNI said the sentences should act as a deterrent and showed that people “convicted of serious terrorist offences can expect to lose their liberty for a considerable time.”
A spokesperson for the Serious Crime Branch of the PSNI said the improvised devices were probably intended to be used to attack police or other members of the security forces.
They said that the grenades contained nails, nuts and bolts (see photo below) which would have caused “serious injuries or worse to anyone in the vicinity of these devices exploding”.
“There is no doubt that the actions of police in this case have protected their colleagues and the public from serious injury or death,” the spokesperson said, adding:
We will continue to pursue those who seek to bring terror to our communities and put them before the courts.
The contents of one of the grenades (Photo: PSNI)
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Cowardly animals.
Well said eagle ( what’s the craic with Journal red thumbs since the update??)
16 red thumbs for calling them cowardly animals eagle eye wtf . The people who red thumbed that comment are cowardly animals themselves not on same scale but close ,they can hide behind their keyboard ,and you keyboard warriors can red thumb this all you want ye feckin idiots
It’s interesting to see how people comment differently with regards to Northern dissidents, and to the gangsters in Dublin who leave out bombs on an almost weekly basis
I think the perception about Dublin ‘gangsters’ is that they are killing each other and it’s hard for people to empathise or relate to victims who ‘were known to the Gardai for serious crimes’. In the North the targets are ordinary people doing a policing job. These idiots, and their supporters, are the last dying rats of our plague who can’t accept that their ’cause’ has moved on and is being fought through dialogue and politics.
A bomb is bomb, and it can kill anyone, regardless of the fact it may be aimed at ‘undesirable’ elements within society
Sometimes reading The Journal is like reading An Phoblacht and if you do not go along with such nonsense you will be banned from making comments in the future.
Remove the thumbs..who cares about the thumbs….good stories is what matters..ffs
Anyone concerned that more Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) are found in the Republic each year than during the worst of the troubles?
Anyone concerned that Ireland rates as one of the top ten countries for discovered IED’s in the world?
Anyone else concerned that the government are not tackling this???
Cheaper to make from common household chemicals and items and easier to get than guns and 100% more deadly and effective.No wonder its becoming the weapon of choice in Ireland.Give me shootings anyday.
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