GARDAÍ IN Co Clare were last night questioning five men, believed to be members of a well-known Dublin criminal gang, who were arrested by armed detectives in Ennis early yesterday.
The five were detained when armed Garda units stopped a car and a van which had earlier travelled from Dublin.
The vehicles were stopped in traffic at Parnell Street when gardaí made their move. It is understood that the gang was also tracked from the capital by detectives who are believed to have had the men under surveillance for several weeks.
Gardaí were saying little about the arrests last night, however, it is believed that the gang visited Ennis recently and had been watching the movements of a local businessman.
The men were taken from the scene to nearby Ennis Garda station, while the car and van in which they were travelling were taken away to be searched and technically examined.
One woman shopper said: "I was in one of the shops and I was coming out the door and a man in a suit with a gun said 'get back in' so I did . . . I went back into the shop and the girls locked the door and switched off the lights. We couldn't see what was happening, but when I saw the guns, that was enough."
The men were taken to Ennis Garda station where they were processed before two were transferred to Shannon Garda station. All five were being detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
A Garda spokesman said: "As a result of several searches carried out in the Ennis area, five people were arrested and are being detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act under which they can be held for 72 hours.
"The searches were carried as part of an ongoing Garda operation."