Families moved out of their homes overnight due to a hijacked van being abandoned at the gates of St Mary’s Church in Derry’s Creggan Estate have been allowed to return after the incident was declared a hoax.
At approximately 8.45pm a Sainsbury’s delivery van was stopped at nearby Iniscarn Road by two masked men, one carrying a suspected firearm.
A suspicious object was placed in the van and the driver told to make his way to The Diamond in the city centre.
However, the driver abandoned the vehicle at the gates of St Mary’s Church at Fanad Drive.
Up to 24 families, many of them elderly, were evacuated from their homes during the alert.
The hijacked van at the centre of Wednesday’s alert on Buncrana Road. Photo: Lorcan Photography.
It is the second such incident in the city in 48 hours.
On Wednesday, two masked men placed a wheelie bin in a furniture delivery fan at Ederowen Park in the Galliagh area and told the driver to take it to Strand Road police station.
However, he stopped the vehicle less than two miles away close to St Columb’s College on Buncrana Road.
The incident was also declared a hoax some eight years later after it was examined by bomb disposal experts.
Speaking after last night’s alert, PSNI Chief Inspector Tony Callaghan, the Foyle Area Commander, said he believed dissident republicans were responsible.
He said: “For the second time in 48 hours a security alert has caused a great deal of inconvenience to the people of Derry.
“Yet again, a man was going about his normal day-to-day work when he was confronted by masked men and ordered to drive with what he was told was a bomb into the City centre.
“A large number of people had to leave their homes last night because of the misguided actions of the people responsible for this incident.
“It is important that we get this information so that the people of Derry can continue to move forward and enjoy the enormous progress that this city has seen in recent years.
“Detectives in Strand Road are now investigating this incident and are appealing for anyone who has any information to contact them on the non-emergency number 101 or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111; or by liaising through a community or civic representative.”
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