Pipe bomb arrest and appeal after armed robberies

A man has been arrested following a pipe bomb alert in Co Antrim last night.

The device was found under a car at a house on the Garryduff Road in Ballymoney shortly before 7pm.

The occupants of the house were evacuated during the security operation.

The pipe bomb type device was dealt with by army technical officers during a clearance operation which lasted around 10 hours.

While police have found no motive for the attack they do not believe it was sectarian.

Elsewhere, police are appealing for information after two separate armed robberies on the outskirts of Belfast yesterday.

At around 1.40pm, an employee of a security firm was robbed as he left a bank in Holywood, Co Down. The robber, who was armed with a handgun, confronted the guard outside the bank on Church Street and took a cash box from him.

The gunman then got into a red Seat car, registration XBZ 5560, which was waiting nearby. The vehicle was later found abandoned in Glen Lyon Country Park.

It is believed that a white coloured car was then used by the men who made off with a substantial sum of money.

Detectives at Strandtown are also appealing for information following a robbery at the Texaco Garage on the Beersbridge Road in east Belfast.

At around 8.40pm, two men, one armed with a handgun, held up staff and customers and demanded money. They made off with a sum of cash.

The robbers are described as being around 5’10-5’11 tall. One was wearing a grey hooded top with the 'GAP' logo across the front, blue tracksuit bottoms and mustard coloured trainers. The second man was wearing a navy hooded top with red stripes down the arms, navy jeans and white trainers.

And a man in his thirties was taken to hospital last night suffering from gunshot wounds to both legs. It is understood the shooting incident happened in a field near Longstone Court, Ballybeen, on the outskirts of east Belfast shortly before 7pm. The man’s condition is described as stable.

(MB/GMcG)