Garda and dissident republican sources are sceptical about a report that a guns and drugs shipment uncovered in France was bound for the Continuity IRA. It was reported that almost £3 million worth of drugs, along with grenades and automatic handguns, were found by customs officers in an Irish-registered lorry outside Paris. A news agency report said the truck was on its way to catch a ferry to Rosslare when it was stopped on Tuesday night and that a man in his 30s from Co Longford was being questioned by French agents.
The haul was said to include cocaine, ecstasy, guns and grenades. Sources in the Revenue Commissioners' customs service in Dublin yesterday denied it had given the French authorities a tip-off. "This is a French gig first and last," one source said. Garda sources expressed "considerable doubt" about the report that the shipment was bound for the Continuity IRA.
Dissident republican sources said they knew nothing about the find and it was "extremely, extremely unlikely" that the Continuity IRA would be involved in drugs. The source said: "Republicans are always looking at ways to bring in weapons but there is no way any of the dissident republican groups want to get involved in the drugs trade."