Dissident republicans using civilians to ferry bombs is reminiscent of past 'proxy' type bomb attacks during the height of the Troubles.
On Wednesday evening a man was forced to drive a van with explosives on board to Belfast's Laganside Courthouse.
Police said had the bomb gone off it would have caused death or serious injury including that of the driver.
Last August a man was forced to drive a bread lorry containing a primed incendiary-type device, to the junction at Grosvenor Road, near the Westlink.
The van had earlier been hijacked in the Glen Road area of west Belfast.
British army experts carried out three controlled explosions on the vehicle in a security operation lasting six hours.
Such incidents mirror the 'proxy' style bomb attacks which dominated news headlines in the nineties.
Patsy Gillespie (42) – a Catholic kitchen worker in the British army's Fort George base – died after he was forced to transport a IRA bomb to an army checkpoint in Derry in October 1990.
The father-of-three, from the Shantallow area of Derry, was chained to a vehicle containing a 1,000lb bomb and was ordered to drive the device to the Coshquin border checkpoint, while his family were held hostage.
Unable to free himself, Mr Gillespie was killed in the massive blast which also claimed the lives of six soldiers.
On the same night, in Newry, the IRA forced a 65-year-old garage worker to drive a van loaded with explosives to the border checkpoint.
The elderly man managed to escape the attack, having just enough time to get out of the vehicle and shout a warning before the device exploded, breaking his leg.
In Omagh, another driver was strapped behind the steering wheel of a vehicle carrying a bomb destined for an army base.
He managed to free himself and raise the alarm. Minutes later the detonator exploded but failed to set off the main device.
A year later, a massive 'proxy' bomb designed for the security forces caused widespread devastation in Magherafelt.
A young Protestant man was forced to drive the bomb from Tobermore to the UDR/Army centre in Station Road, while his wife was held hostage.
The man, however, managed to escape before the device exploded.
In April 1991 the IRA were blamed for using a woman hostage in a "human bomb" attack on Belleek RUC Station in Co Fermanagh.
The middle-aged woman was forced to run a quarter of a mile with a bomb in her handbag from a border crossing point to her workplace at Belleek barracks.
It is understood hostages were held while the woman carried out the instructions.
