Police in Northern Ireland say they are investigating an attempt to blow up a lorry due to travel on a ferry to Scotland on Brexit Day.

The PSNI said they were warned about a bomb in a lorry on the Belfast Docks last Friday January 31st.

After carrying searches in the docks area, nothing was found and the ferry was allowed to sail.

On Monday, investigators received further information suggesting the bomb had been attached to a lorry owned by a named haulage company.

After checking 400 vehicles owned by the company, they found the device on a heavy goods vehicle in the Silverwood Industrial Estate in County Armagh.

The Army Bomb Squad was called in to make the device safe.

Detective Superintendent Sean Wright from the PSNI Terrorism Investigation Unit said: “It is clear from the information available to police that Dissident Republicans deliberately and recklessly attached an explosive device to a heavy goods vehicle in the full knowledge and expectation that it would put the driver of that vehicle, road users and the wider public at serious risk of injury and possible death.”

“Had this vehicle travelled and the device exploded at any point along the M1, across the Westlink or into the Harbour estate, the risks posed do not bear thinking about.

“The only conclusion that we can draw is that once again Dissident Republicans have shown a total disregard for the community, for businesses and for wider society.”

He called for any who was in the area near the industrial estate between 4pm and 10pm on Friday January 31st to contact police.

Police are particularly interested in talking to driver who were in the area at the time and may have dash-cam footage.