Smashed a dissident Republican cell which was selling weapons to Dublin crime gangs.
Five suspected members of the Continuity IRA remained in custody today after officers from the Special Detective Unit raided a number of properties in south County Dublin.Six replica handguns were seized in the operation, which was launched on Sunday night after SDU officers stopped and searched a car travelling through Tallaght.This was followed by a raid on an apartment in Loughlinstown, where the imitation firearms were recovered, along with more than 60 rounds of ammunition.
The guns can be converted to fire live rounds, and officers believe that the CIRA cell was planning to make the conversion and sell the weapons on to figures in Dublin's underworld.A leading member of the Dublin unit of the CIRA, in his 60s, was arrested after the guns were uncovered.Three younger men, all in their 20s, were also arrested. Detectives believe that these men were involved in moving the weapons.
A woman in her 20s, known to the men, has also been detained. All five are from the Ballybrack and Loughlinstown areas of south Dublin.All five people are being held at garda stations in Terenure, Blackrock and Shankill, and can be held for questioning until Thursday under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act -- anti-terrorism legislation.A source said: "The older prisoner is well known to the Special Branch and has a lengthy involvement in subversive activities."We believe that he was running a guns-for-sale scam, where replica and altered weapons were being sold to crime gangs in south and west Dublin."Most of the replicas are sourced from the North and transported by train to the capital, where they are then modified and sold on."The guns and ammunition were brought to the Garda Technical Bureau at the Phoenix Park yesterday, where they are undergoing forensic examination.Ballistic tests on the seven weapons will also be carried out, to establish if any of them was capable of firing.
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