GARDAÍ BELIEVE they have thwarted a serious dissident republican gun or mortar attack on a target in the North or Britain following the discovery of a Real IRA arms stash that included a machine gun and mortar. All of the weapons were found with matching ammunition.
Garda sources said the weapons were well preserved and were “clearly ready for use”.
The find was made when gardaí excavated a wooded area near Dunleer, Co Louth yesterday. An array of weapons was found buried in barrels in what Garda sources have described as “one of the biggest finds for years”.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has congratulated the Garda, saying their find had come about after “detailed” investigative work.
“This was a very significant find at a time when the threat from dissident groups poses dangers for law abiding people,” Mr Ahern said last night.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy described the find as “significant”.
The operation which led gardaí to the arms was intelligence-led and was linked to the recent arrests of dissident republicans in a number of locations.
The find is being linked to the Real IRA and specifically to a section of that organisation led by a prominent dissident republican family which has been active for decades in Louth and south Armagh.
Garda search teams moved in on a wooded area at Togher near Dunleer at first light yesterday. Using specialist equipment to detect recently disturbed earth, the search team identified one plot and began digging.
A couple of feet below the surface the team came upon a number of large drums in which weapons and ammunition had been stored.
The haul included a general purpose machine gun. Ammunition for that weapon was found with it.
They also discovered a shotgun with ammunition and a viable pipe bomb with around 5kg of TNT explosives.
An improvised mortar was also found along with an assortment of components used in bomb making.
Garda sources said the discovery of the machine gun and the mortar was the most worrying feature. Another mortar was seized in Louth in May.
“This wasn’t old stuff, it was in good nick and ready to go,” said one Garda source. “You’d be looking at them using this location as a base to carry out attacks either on the PSNI in the North or against a target in Britain.”
Yesterday’s operation was led by the Special Detective Unit, which is responsible for targeting terrorists. Members were given armed back-up by the Emergency Response Unit and were assisted by gardaí from Louth and Meath.
Similar searches were carried out in the Meath area yesterday but nothing of significance was found. No arrests were made in relation to yesterday’s find but gardaí believe they know who owns the weaponry and investigations are continuing.
The arms find followed a series of arrests in Wexford, Waterford and Louth in recent days.
Both An Garda Síochána and the PSNI have stepped up security operations against dissident republicans following an increase in paramilitary activity, most recently in reaction to a dissident republican bomb exploding in Derry last week. British authorities have raised the threat level of a dissident republican terror attack from moderate to substantial.