Overview
- Kieran Smyth, 66, appeared at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Saturday charged with attempted murder, causing an explosion, hijacking, and possessing a SIM card for terrorist use.
- A PSNI detective said CCTV and payment records linked Smyth to a phone top-up and a Monzo account tied to the SIM later used to order a Chinese takeaway that drew the driver to the hijack point.
- The device was a gas cylinder placed in a seized delivery car in Twinbrook on Saturday that exploded outside Dunmurry PSNI station during evacuations, and no one was hurt.
- The New IRA claimed responsibility for the attack, prompting joint condemnation by UK and Irish ministers and a pledge of close cooperation between the PSNI and An Garda Síochána.
- The judge remanded Smyth in custody to 18 May as detectives continue searches and forensic work in a case that echoes a failed proxy-bomb attempt at Lurgan weeks earlier.