Gardaí probe INLA link to bomb hoax

More than 150 neighbours of the journalist had to move into a local community school for more than two hours as almost 40 homes were evacuated through the alert.

Minutes after the incident, gardaí elevated existing security precautions surrounding Mr Williams and his family to a round-the-clock basis.

One of Ireland’s most high-profile writers, the crime correspondent for the Sunday World as well as the author of a book on the Irish underworld vowed that he would not be intimidated by the scare.

He said he and his family – who have temporarily moved to another address - were fine and paid tribute to friends and neighbours as well as to the emergency services.

The journalist added: “They are not going to intimidate or threaten me. These scumbags will not stop me from doing what I do for a living. I am not going to stop taking on these bastards. I am staying at it.”

To an extent, the incident echoed the 1996 murder by a crime gang of Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin, who had also written extensively about the activities of top criminals.

Her Dublin shooting outraged the government, which tightened the laws as a consequence and clamped down severely on drugs gangs in the capital.

Two men were later convicted and jailed for the Guerin murder, and as an indirect result of the on-going investigation, a number of drug-dealers have also been imprisoned and other convictions secured.

There has been a rash of gangland-linked killings in Dublin during the past year. Mainly gang members have been the victims, with the number of shootings so far this year already double the 2002 total.

A new book on the Irish underworld by Mr Williams appeared last week and is understood to have angered and outraged crime bosses.

Detectives were tonight studying a section of the book dealing with a murderous feud between a drugs-dealing gang and the INLA that ended with the killing of one of the terror group’s leading figures.

Police were also examining pictures captured by a closed-circuit TV camera already in place at the Williams home that was in operation overnight.

The package that caused the alert was spotted lying beneath Mr Williams’ car in the drive of his home by officers in a passing garda patrol vehicle.

It comprised wires, batteries, putty and a circuit board – but no explosives.

A garda source afterwards described the device as “a very elaborate hoax“.

It was finally declared safe after a controlled explosion by the army using a robot machine, but not before 37 neighbouring houses were evacuated.

Householders forced to leave their homes were accommodated at a local community school, where they were given food and drink by nuns based there.

Mr Williams has received a measure of police protection for some time following threats, and is understood to have been the victim of another attack involving acid being poured over his car.

Gardaí said what had happened was being regarded as “a very sinister and worrying development“.

And an Army bomb expert reported: “This bomb was perfectly constructed - except for the fact that there were no explosives in it.”

The incident was condemned by the Labour party.

Justice spokesperson Joe Costello said it was “a sinister attempt to intimidate a courageous journalist who had done much to expose the leaders of criminal gangs“.

He added: “This must be a very worrying development for Paul Williams and his family, but it also has serious implications for society generally.

“The clear message from those responsible is that ’if we can so easily place a hoax device, we can easily place a real bomb’.

“This incident once again points to the power of these gangs and their belief that they can operate with little fear of being called into account.”

Mr Costello said the incident also called into question “repeated claims” by Justice Minister Michael McDowell that he was winning the war against crime.

The hoax was also condemned by the National Union of Journalists in Dublin.