Police say a scar across an area of heathland on Beary Mountain remains a mystery as their appeals have so far failed to elicit information.
The land appears to have had a track gouged into it using excavating machinery which has taken away the top layer of peat exposing the rocky hard core bed.
Constable Ian Scott of the Western Neighbourhood Policing Team has been investigating the incident but said most enquiries had so far drawn a blank.
‘Technically it is an area of private land,’ he said.
‘But in spite of this it is commonly used and many people walk over it although there is no official public right of way.’
He added the damage had all the characteristics of an improvised off-road motorcycle course.
‘It has some large steep jumps about five feet high that have been incorporated into it and some banked corners,’ he said.
At around 200 yards in length, the course is not insignificant. Constable Scott said the damage looked as if someone had used something like a 360-degree excavator to cause the damage and he said the route traced a winding course which seemed to double back on itself and produce laps.
He said the area of land was known as Twelve Shares and was, he believed, actually held by 12 shareholders, one being the Department of Environment Food and Agriculture.
‘As far as we are aware it is shared common land and the owners have the right to use it for things like cattle grazing but are not allowed to fence it,’ he said.
The damage came to light about a month ago and Constable Scott said it was so extensive he doubted it could have been done unobtrusively. Access to the land is from the top of Mill Road which leads off Greeba Bridge.
Constable Scott is appealing for information: ‘The extent of the excavations means that the machinery used must have been on site for some considerable time and it would be very unusual to see an excavator in this location.’
Anyone with information should police on call 631212.
