Two follow-up searches in the Galliagh area of Derry following the arrest of murder suspect Kieran McLaughlin have ended.
Mobile bomb disposal units examine the car at the centre of the security alert in Ederowen Park.
McLaughlin was detained hiding behind a car in the driveway of a house at Fern Park at 3.00am this morning. He had been on the run since last Thursday after police named him as they person they wished to question about the murder of Barry McCrory who was shot dead in a flat in Shipquay Street earlier in the day.
No shots were fired and no one was injured during the arrest and the city’s police commander, Chief Superintendent Stephen Martin, said he was delighted the manhunt had ended peacefully.
Three firearms – two handguns and a shotgun – were seized during the operation.
McLaughlin was spotted by Gardai near the border in Donegal driving a silver-coloured car. He was later traced to the Galliagh area where he had stolen another vehicle.
Families were moved out of their homes in Fern Park where McLaughlin was found and at Moss Park and Ederowen Park where army bomb disposal squads checked out two vehicles.
The Fern Park and Moss Park operations have ended and residents have been allowed to return to their homes. However, the alert at Ederowen Park is still ongoing as bomb disposal units continue to examine a silver-coloured car parked next to a property police would have visited on a number of occasions during the search for McLaughlin.
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