Connor Hughes remanded in custody at Belfast Magistrates’ Court over mortar bomb find

A 22-year-old man has faced a court charged over the seizure of an improvised mortar bomb in west Belfast during an undercover security force operation.

Connor Hughes, of Altan Close, Dunmurry, appeared in the dock of Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

He was formally charged with having an improvised explosive device with intent to endanger life under the Explosive Substances Act.

No bail application was made and Hughes was remanded in custody to Maghaberry Prison.

During an undercover operation to thwart dissident republican gangs operating in west Belfast, police seized a holdall containing a bomb and command wire on Shaw’s Road last Thursday.

Hughes was arrested and taken to the serious crime suite in Antrim for questioning.

The device was later made safe by Army Technical Officers.

The previous weekend, dissident republicans detonated a mortar by command wire from the City Cemetery on the Falls Road.

Four police officers and a car carrying a Filipino family cheated serious injury when the device struck a PSNI landrover as it passed the cemetery.