Parcel bomb made safe in Co Antrim

A parcel bomb was discovered and made safe in a postal sorting office in Co Antrim today.

A parcel bomb was discovered and made safe in a postal sorting office in Co Antrim today.

The suspect package was spotted at the huge sorting office in Mallusk by staff at 5.30am and British army bomb disposal experts were called in.

The building was evacuated for over six hours before the army made safe what police called "a viable and unstable device". A PSNI spokeswoman said no warning had been been made about the device and she would not say who it had been addressed to.

The alert came just over a week after Northern Ireland's police chief Sir Hugh Orde put the North on alert against an imminent renewed campaign by the dissident Real IRA.

Once the package had been taken away for forensic examination Royal Mail staff were allowed back to work.

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