Gardaí have arrested three men and seized three firearms in an early morning raid in Charleville as part of an investigation into a feud between a number of families in Co Cork.
Up to 60 gardaí were involved in the operation when officers from the Cork County Divisional Detective Unit supported by members of the Armed Support Unit called to a house in Charleville.
Three men – one man in his 60s, one in his early 30s and one in his late 20s, all members of one family – were arrested at the house for questioning about their feud with a rival faction.
Gardaí carried out a search of the property where they found two shotguns and a handgun as well as several thousand Xanax tablets which officers believe the family were selling illegally.
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All three men were taken to Mallow Garda station where they can be detained for up to 24 hours.
The arrests are part of a Garda investigation into the feud between the two family factions which last month saw shots fired by one side at a car driven by the other on the main Cork-Limerick Road. No one was injured in the shooting which happened on the N20 near O’Rourke’s Cross but it led to a retaliatory action where shots were fired at a house in Kilmallock which was unoccupied at the time.
The feud also saw a petrol bomb thrown at a house belonging to one of the parties in Charleville as well as another petrol bomb attack on a house in Knocknaheeny in Cork city.
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