Royal Mail Staff Praised Over Bomb Finds

Justice Minister David Ford has praised staff in Royal Mail sorting offices following the discovery of a number of intended letter bombs in the past week.

A letter bomb was sent to the Public Prosecution Service office in Londonderry on Monday.

The news followed the discovery of two devices in postal sorting offices in County Antrim on Friday, one of which was addressed to PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott.

The Minister was speaking during a visit to the sorting office at Mallusk, where staff intercepted the device.

On the same day, staff at the Lisburn sorting office had intercepted another device addressed to a senior police officer based in Derry.

David Ford said: "There are delivery offices across Northern Ireland handling many thousands of letters and parcels every day. Royal Mail has been very active in putting in place security measures to detect and deal with suspicious packages, which in turn helps to secure and protect our citizens. I was grateful for the opportunity to personally thank some of the staff involved in dealing with our mail and carrying out those security checks. There is an obvious threat to these staff when reckless people abuse the mail system and I commend them for their vigilance."

(IT/CD)