THE co-owner of a Co Down bar complex targeted in UVF bomb hoax was not told about the paramilitary connection.
Kris Fletcher revealed last night that the PSNI did not tell him that last weekend's alert at the No 7 Duke Bar and restaurant in Warrenpoint was linked to the UVF.
Details of the incident emerged on Thursday during a bail hearing linked to a separate UVF hoax alert which forced Irish government minister Simon Coveney to flee a peace building event in north Belfast.
Darren Service, of Ballysillan Road, faces three charges including preparation of terrorist acts, hijacking and placing a hoax bomb.
During the hearing, police detailed separate incidents said to be part of an escalation in loyalist tensions and activity.
On Saturday, claims were made that a bomb had been left at a bar in Warrenpoint, the court was told. The Irish News understands that the Mid Ulster UVF was responsible.
The court also heard loyalist paramilitaries said on Wednesday that a device had been planted on the Belfast to Dublin train service. It is believed this was the work of the UDA.
The PSNI last night provided more information about the Warrenpoint alert.
A spokeswoman said it received a report after 8.45pm last Saturday that "two devices had been left at licensed premises in the Duke Street area of Warrenpoint". The spokeswoman said police attended "and carried out extensive searches in the building and surrounding area, and nothing untoward was found".
The matter is being treated as a hoax, she added.
Mr Fletcher said he only became aware of the paramilitary link after Thursday's court hearing.
"I was sent a link from an article...I have to say I was surprised...my opinion from the night and the way it went and since then was that it was a hoax from somebody, a disgruntled customer or a couple of young people, that was the impression we got rather than something as serious as, obviously paramilitaries."
Mr Fletcher said that dance music act Cascada played his venue on Saturday.
"It was a throwback night in the sense that the artist was back from the 2000s but I didn't expect to be thrown back that far," he said.
Asked if he feels the police should have told him about the paramilitary link he said: "I don't know to be honest, it's one of things, if they tell you, what do you do?
"I don't think we are a target in any sense, I can't see why we would be a target. It was a hoax at the end of the day no matter who was doing it, they didn't find anything, it was obviously somebody trying to waste a bit of time for whatever reason."
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond has said his party colleague Simon Coveney will not be deterred after last week's alert in north Belfast.
"Before the bomb hoax cut his speech short last week, minister Coveney was speaking about the importance of building common ground in Northern Ireland," he said.
"While any violence is immensely distressing and unnecessary, it is also fruitless in that it will never stop minister Coveney or indeed the Irish government in doing what they obliged to do as per the Good Friday Agreement. Minister Coveney has dedicated so much of his political career to Northern Ireland, and this is not going to change."
