An extra 30 CCTV cameras have been fitted as part of the anti-terrorist security measures to protect Ireland's first IKEA store which opens in Belfast on Thursday.
With the threat from dissident republicans as high as any time in some parts of Northern Ireland, the additional closed circuit surveillance will bring to 45 the number of cameras operating at the massive development.
It is one of IKEA's flagship stores with the largest selling space anywhere of the company's vast outlets in the UK - and a prime target for firebombers, especially in the run-up to Christmas.
Several big DIY stops in the greater Belfast area have been hit by dissident republicans before at this time of the year and security has been significantly heightened in a bid to thwart any attack with incendiaries left hidden in the low cost furnishings.
The store which runs alongside the George Best City of Belfast Airport at Sydenham, covers the equivalent of five and a half soccer pitches - about 29,000 sq metres - and will have over 50 showrooms with parking space for 2,000 vehicles. It will employ 400 with a further 100 working in outsourced services.
Police, including an officer who specialises in anti-terrorist measures, have been closely involved in talks with senior management. Apart from IKEA's own in-house team, other security staff are also being employed to be on the lookout for shoplifters as well as firebombers. #
PA