Simon Coveney alert: Darren Service in court over bomb hoax

A hoax bomb alert in north Belfast on 27 March was part of "a politically motivated crime" linked to opposition to the NI Protocol, a court has heard.

It happened while Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney was attending a peace event in the area.

Darren Service, of Ballysillan Road in north Belfast, is charged with preparing terrorist acts, hijacking a van and causing a bomb hoax.

Mr Service is accused of transporting two gunmen to the scene of a hijacking.

That happened minutes before the alert.

A PSNI detective inspector said the gunmen hijacked a van from a workman in Sydney Street and told him that he would be shot or his family would be injured if he did not listen to them.

He explained that an item was then placed in the van and the victim was ordered to drive it to the Houben Centre on the Crumlin Road, where the Republic of Ireland's minister for foreign affairs was attending a peace event.

'Terrorist act'

The court heard that Mr Service accepted, during police interviews, that he was driving in the area of the hijacking on Friday morning but denied that he was the driver of the car in which the gunmen were being transported.

The police said that the defendant presented himself at a police station and officers subsequently searched his home where they found about £100,000 in cash, two balaclavas, UVF pins, an air pistol, drugs and jewellery.

The defendant told police officers that the money was "savings". He said the balaclavas were for pigeon hunting and that he had bought the UVF pins at a stall.

The police said they believe Mr Service was linked to protests over the Irish Sea border.

The PSNI objected to bail saying they feared there could be a risk of an escalation of loyalist protests again the Northern Ireland Protocol and the Irish Sea border.

The detective inspector also said police believe the defendant was "actively involved" in a terrorist act by driving the gunmen.

The police also said they believe Mr Service was present and helped to orchestrate trouble during a protest around Lanark Way last year when a bus was set on fire.

When the judge asked if he was charged in connection with that, the senior police officer said: "No, he has not."

The court also heard that Mr Service has failed to hand over his mobile phone to investigating officers because it contained information he did not want to share.

Police also outlined concerns about security alerts in Warrenpoint and on the Belfast to Dublin train earlier this week, linked to the UVF.

A prosecution lawyer said the defendant can only be regarded as "a trusted member" of the organisation responsible for last week's incident, which she described as "a politically motivated attack".

She said this is "an organised grouping of like-minded individuals".

A defence lawyer said it was being suggested that the defendant was a trusted member of the UVF, yet there was no charge in relation to this.

He also asked why the Lanark Way incident last summer was being brought up now when Mr Service was never even questioned about the incident.

The lawyer said the case against his client was "conjecture" and joining the dots.

He said there was nothing to connect him forensically to the incident on 27 March. He said his client was "a legitimate businessman" who owned three gyms.

The judge refused bail saying there were "significant suspicions" about the amount of cash found in the defendant's home.

He also referred to his refusal to hand over his phone as being "within his own gift".

The judge said he was also mindful of what he described as "heightened public tensions".