TWO men from Co Meath have appeared in court charged over an attempted bomb attack at a Derry hotel due to host a police recruitment event.
Darren Poleon (41), from Kells, and Brian Walsh (34) from Dunshaughlin, were refused bail at Derry Magistrates Court on Friday.
They were jointly charged with placing an improvised explosive device (IED) on October 6 at the Waterfoot Hotel close to the Foyle Bridge.
It was set to be the venue of a PSNI recruitment event that was later cancelled.
The accused were also charged with possessing an IED with intent to endanger life or cause damage to property and with conspiring to cause an explosion with an IED.
A PSNI detective constable told the court that a sat nav recovered from Mr Poleon's Ford Focus showed the car had been driven to Derry from Co Meath on October 6.
He said CCTV footage showed it being parked near the hotel, before being driven to Eglinton and back, where police believe one person was collected and another dropped off.
The car containing the two defendants was stopped the following day in Omagh, with police finding two pairs of latex gloves, a toy gun, bolt cutters, and a walkie-talkie.
Both men were arrested and later released on police bail on suspicion of going equipped to commit a burglary.
The detective constable said on October 9 police found an IED in a fire extinguisher concealed in undergrowth beside the hotel containing 1.5 kilos of low explosives.
He said Mr Poleon had made a reservation to stay in the hotel overnight on October 9 but failed to arrive.
He said police believe he planned to go there, remove the IED, and place it in the hotel where it was timed to explode during the PSNI recruitment event.
Bail was refused and both men were remanded in custody to appear again via video link on December 31.
