Two arrested in connection with north Belfast security alert

Two people were arrested by police investigating the proxy bomb scare in north Belfast on Sunday.

A van was hijacked and the driver ordered to drive to Holy Cross Church on Friday morning. Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney was giving a keynote address at a peace-building event in a centre in the grounds when he was informed of the incident before leaving abruptly.

The event had been organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation.

A funeral service was also disrupted.

Loyalist paramilitaries have been blamed with the police suspecting the UVF.

On Sunday afternoon, police arrested a 41-year-old man.

He was held under the Terrorism Act and is being questioned at Musgrave Serious Crime Suite.

A 38-year-old woman was also arrested.

On Sunday morning, the PSNI said the woman had been arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm in suspicious circumstances, possessing criminal property and concealing criminal property.

She was later released on police bail pending further investigation.

It comes after the Serious Crime Branch carried out searches in the Ballysillan and Springmartin areas of north and west Belfast on Saturday evening.

A suspected firearm, two vehicles, a quantity of controlled drugs and a large sum of cash were seized.

Friday’s incident was condemned by politicians across the political spectrum.

Secretary of State Brandon Lewis described the actions as “reprehensible”.