Coveney bomb hoax : Police given more time to question two men

Simon Coveney was notified of the alert by his team shortly after he began speaking at the event in March

Police have been granted extra time to question two men over a security alert by the Ulster Volunteer Force at an event attended by Simon Coveney.

Detectives were granted a 14-hour extension to question a 46-year-old man and an extra 34 hours to question a 51-year-old man.

The arrests, under the Terrorism Act, followed a number of operations in Belfast and in Ballymena.

The alert happened as the Irish foreign minister was giving a talk in Belfast.

During the incident in March, a van was hijacked and there was an elaborate hoax bomb. It has been blamed on the UVF and loyalist opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol .

During the police operations earlier this week, two suspected weapons were seized and two vehicles removed for further examination.