Paint ‘bombers’ hit High Commission

Press, 7 May 1981, Page 1

Paint ‘bombers’ hit High Commission

Two hooded men who paint “bombed” the Christchurch trade office of the British High Commission yesterday were still being sought by the police early this morning. Just after 1 p.m. yesterday two men dressed in green boiler suits with dark-coloured hoods pulled over their heads threw a smoke cannister and paint “bomb” into the High Commission office, on the sixth floor of the A.M.P. building in Cathedral Square. The device exploded, splattering bright red paint over the four walls and filling the 4m by 7m office with smoke. The two occupants of the office were not injured, and damage was slight. The commission was back in action later in the day.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner G. E. Twentyman, commander of the Christchurch police district, visited the paintsplattered office soon after the incident. “At this stage it would be purely conjecture to say that Bobby Sands’ death is behind this,” Mr Twentyman said. “We are treating this very seriously, and have some information which we are acting on,” he said. Police staff numbers were built up yesterday afternoon to handle the preliminary parts of the inquiry, but had been scaled down by last evening. Mr Twentyman said that there was evidence of burning on the carpet, but it was not known if any explosive had been used. Some form of pressure

had obviously been required to splash, the paint around. Details surrounding the incident are sketchy. The British High Commission refused to comment, would not allow any of its employees to be interviewed, and would not let photographs be taken inside the office. Employees of an office beside the commission said that they . had not seen anything suspicious on the sixth floor. The police presume that the two men arrived on the sixth floor in the lift and left the same way. Nothing is known of how they left Cathedral Square after throwing the device. Tests taken by D.S.I.R. scientists are expected to yield results in a couple of days.