Gardaí say they have prevented a "serious crime" after three men were arrested and firearms were seized after a suspect vehicle was intercepted near Shannon early yesterday.
Armed detectives from the Clare and Limerick divisions, backed up by members of the Dublin-based Emergency Response Unit and National Surveillance Unit, stopped a van on the old Limerick to Ennis road at Drumline, about two miles from Shannon, at around 9.30am.
Up to 40 gardaí were involved in the operation. The vehicle had been travelling along a back road which runs parallel to the Newmarket-on-Fergus bypass when it was stopped.
The driver rammed a Garda patrol car, but any escape was prevented by other Garda vehicles and the occupants immediately arrested. While there were gardaí in the patrol car at the time of the crash, no one was injured.
Three men from Clare, Limerick and Cork were arrested at the scene and taken to Garda stations in Ennis and Shannon. They are being detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. This provides gardaí with powers to detain suspects for an initial period of 24 hours but for a possible 72 hours.
Chief Supt Liam Quinn, of the Clare Garda division, said the gang was probably about to commit a crime. "It is not clear, and we may never know what these men were about to do, but we decided at the time that it would be prudent to arrest them when we did. We suspect that they were probably going to carry out a robbery."
A sawn-off shotgun, a pistol, some ammunition and a substantial amount of equipment were seized. Clothing and wigs were also recovered, as well as high-visibility jackets.
No shots were fired, and it is not thought the men attempted to use the weapons.
Gardaí were not willing to speculate on what crime the gang was about to commit. "It could have been a post office van or security van or even possibly a bank robbery. The high-visibility jackets and other equipment in the car could have been used to flag down a van with the intention of robbing it. It's hard to know."
A Garda spokesperson also confirmed that the three men were known to them, but would not say whether they had been under surveillance prior to the arrests.
"This was a substantial operation. There were armed detectives and gardaí from Clare and Limerick as well as members of the ERU and NSU involved.
"All we can say about these particular arrests is that they are part of a continuing operation against armed criminals in the Clare and Limerick area," said Chief Supt Quinn.
The firearms and ammunition seized are expected to be sent to the ballistics section of the Garda forensics laboratory in Dublin for analysis.