Man charged after gardaí seize two loaded guns in Dublin

Dublin man to appear at special court sitting following anti-organised crime operation

The man is due to appear before a special sitting of the CCJ tomorrow. Photograph: Frank Miller
The man is due to appear before a special sitting of the CCJ tomorrow. Photograph: Frank Miller

A man is to appeared before the courts on Monday charged in relation to the discovery of two guns in west Dublin on Friday.

The suspect, a 26-year-old Dublin man, has been in custody since his arrest with three other people.

Another two men, aged 28 and 29, were detained at the same time, as well as a 28-year-old woman. They have been released without charge and a file on their alleged role in connection with the firearms is being prepared for the DPP.

All four suspects are from the north inner city or Cabra areas of Dublin. They were under surveillance as part of a long running inquiry into organised crime in Dublin.

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The Garda operation occurred at 4.15pm on Friday when two cars were stopped Monastery Gate Avenue, Clondalkin.

Two loaded revolvers were found in one of the cars. Only one of the suspects was in the vehicle in which the firearms were found.

One of the men has graduated from petty crime to gangland offences in recent years and has a wide range of convictions including burglary, drugs offences and assaulting gardaí. He was formerly very close to some members of the Hutch family.

Another one of the arrested men has previous convictions for drugs offences and has been caught with firearms in the past; both offences he served a prison sentence for.

And the third man has over 100 convictions. All four suspects were being questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act in Clondalkin Garda station.

Three of the suspects were released without charge on Friday night and the one man who remained in custody has now been charged.

The Garda confirmed he would appear before a special sitting in the Criminal Courts of Justice at 10.30am tomorrow.

Conor Lally

Conor Lally

Conor Lally is Security and Crime Editor of The Irish Times