By Mickey Ferry

A Strabane man has expressed his concern after finding a piece of handmade 'smoking' apparatus in a field this week.

Thomas Brennan, a resident of Drumrallagh, was walking his dog in the field behind the estate when he came across the device, which appeared to be designed for the smoking of an illegal substance.

Mr Brennan's discovery follows a series of late night camp-out gatherings by young people in the same field.

"Young kids have been camping out on the field for a few weekends now," he said. "There's normally about 15 to 20 of them and some of them would be in their early teens. They would be drinking and, possibly, smoking till the early hours of the morning. In fairness, they do not leave a mess and there is never any litter left behind. The only thing that was left behind was this so-called 'peace pipe'."

Mr Brennan expressed his concerns for both the young people who were using the apparatus and the residents near the field, including his own mother, and how the noise levels are effecting them in the early hours.

"I'd be worried that some of the young people involved in this may be too young to deal with the consequences of what can happen," he stressed.

"I don't think they would be aware of the dangers that smoking illegal substances may lead to. I'm also concerned about local residents of the area. Although the campers do not appear to be starting any trouble, things do get rowdy as the night goes on. Things escalate very late on.

"This leads to dogs barking and I'd be worried that the elderly residents living nearby are getting very little peace with the general noise annoyance.

"This has been going on a for a few weeks now," he continued. "It's almost like a mini-festival with tents set-up.

"Some of the young people in the field are not even from the Drumrallagh area.

"I'd say their mothers and fathers must also be concerned about where they are and what they're up to.

"It's obvious that those who made the smoking device, by it's very design, knew what they were doing. In all my time walking that field I've never seen anything laying around like it before. I showed it to a few people and they had no idea what it was.

"One local, who spent some time in America, recognised it and called a 'peace pipe'."

Mr Brennan now believes that these late-night gatherings in the field are a cause for growing concern as they are leading to teenagers freely roaming the streets in the early hours of the morning.

"As we've seen recently, the streets can be a very unsafe place for young people at night.

"Not only should we be concerned about what they can get up to but also what can happen to them," he concluded.