Councillor finds drugs paraphernalia in graveyard

Pat Catney (right) was closing the Holy Trinity cemetery off Longstone Street on Sunday when he found two boys about 16-years-old on the premises.

Mr Catney told them he was locking up and they politely left. But when they had gone he found packages of syringes and instruments to heat the drugs.

He said the public needed to be vigilant and unite to help stamp out drugs in the area.

“I don’t want to scaremonger or there does not need to be a vigilante group forming or anything but there needs to be a tighter grip on this,” he said. “These two fellows were slight but they were obviously shooting stuff into their veins and we have the proof.”

He said that he contacted the police with the evidence and urged residents to continue to be vigilant.

“I live in Lisburn and I love living in Lisburn,” said Mr Catney.

“We don’t want these drugs in our town. This is the first time that I have come across this paraphernalia in the grave yard. It is not nice to find this close to graves.

“There is no real problem or an epidemic but I was shocked to find this on Sunday night. I can only assume that the cemetery has been a venue for people to use illegal substances.

“I have alerted the police to this matter and am confident that they will investigate it thoroughly.

“However, I would urge people to be generally vigilant regarding the abuse of drugs in our public spaces and to be very careful should they happen upon drugs paraphernalia.

“Any such discoveries should be reported to the police as soon as possible.”

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