The suspect device was sealed before a forensic examination

A suspicious device was found taped to the front door of Larne High School and Moyle Primary School on Tuesday.

Army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on the device.

More than a thousand pupils at the school, as well as Moyle Primary and Nursery schools which share its grounds, were told to stay at home because of the security alert.

The suspicious object was later declared a hoax.

Police have said paramilitary involvement is not suspected at this stage.

East Antrim MP Roy Beggs has hit out against those who caused the alert at the school where he was previously deputy headmaster.

The Ulster Unionist MP said: "Moronic is the only word to describe whoever left this device.

A caretaker found the device taped to a door at the school

"This spate of security alerts at those softest of targets - schools, right across the country over the past few weeks is shameful."

The Mayor of Larne, Bob McKee, said it was an appalling situation.

"This week it's the Protestant school, last week it was the Catholic school, and I have to say as Mayor of Larne I am absolutely appalled at this situation," he said.

'Malicious'

Elsewhere, police believe a fire at an Irish language school on the outskirts of west Belfast was started maliciously.

The alarm was raised at Naiscoil Thaoilinn in Poleglass at about 0030 BST on Tuesday.

One temporary classroom was destroyed while another was damaged.

This was the second time within a month that the school has been attacked.

The previous attack caused damage worth more than �5,000.

Fire officer Gabriel Ferguson said the whole school could have burned down.

"On arrival, it was found that a mobile classroom was well alight, and indeed the building was practically destroyed even before the Fire Brigade got there," he said.