Two men arrested in connection with Intel bomb scare

Call to gardaí in January claimed there were 10 bombs at tech plant in Lexlip

A Garda investigation into the bomb scare in January at the Intel plant in Co Kildare led to the arrest on Friday, March 27th of two men in their early twenties in the Balbriggan area. Photograph: Kate Geraghty/The Irish Times
A Garda investigation into the bomb scare in January at the Intel plant in Co Kildare led to the arrest on Friday, March 27th of two men in their early twenties in the Balbriggan area. Photograph: Kate Geraghty/The Irish Times

Two men were arrested last week in connection with a bomb scare at the Intel plant in Co Kildare in January.

A man placed a call to the Garda control and command centre at about 5.30am on January 13th warning there were 10 bombs at the US computer chip maker’s Lexlip plant. He claimed to represent Islamic State.

The plant, which employs an estimated 4,000 people, was evacuated while a Garda team and intel security conducted a search. After two hours, no threat was detected and the area was declared safe.

The incident occurred less than a week after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks in Paris.

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It was later discovered the brief call had been made from a public phone in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.

A Garda investigation into the incident led to the arrest on Friday of two men in their early 20s in the Balbriggan area. Both men were later released without charge.

A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Garda investigation into the incident will continue.

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak is an Irish Times reporter specialising in immigration issues and cohost of the In the News podcast