Thieves use hoax bomb alert to burgle homes
A bogus bomb alert was used by cold hearted thieves to enable them to burgle a row of Belfast houses early today.
Homes in the Cumberland Road area of Dundonald in the east of the city were evacuated for several hours after a suspicious object was found in the street.
When the alert was declared a hoax by army bomb disposal experts families were allowed to return to their homes – only to find they had been ransacked and robbed.
Eight neighbouring homes were hit and the occupants lost cash, jewellery and other items.
Police suspect the bomb alert was specifically set up to force the evacuation of the houses rather than the burglaries being a last minute opportunist act.
A stolen silver Toyota car abandoned at Cumberland Road is believed to have been linked to the robberies.
