ARMY BOMB disposal experts have carried out a controlled explosion on a mortar bomb found in a suspected Real IRA arms stash.
The Army was called into the site in Co Louth where a Garda search team excavated ground in a wooded area, unearthing the mortar, a heavy machine gun, pipe bomb, shotgun and TNT explosive.
Ammunition for the weapons was found with them, all buried in drums. The Army’s controlled explosion could be heard over a wide area yesterday, and houses close to the site where the mortar was destroyed, were evacuated.
The wood where gardaí found the barrel holding the arms was part of the extensive Barmeath estate near Togher, Co Louth.
The Garda search team examined a track of the wood some 30m (99ft) long that runs roughly parallel to the Trean Road, which forms a boundary to the wood on the eastern side.
The search site is about 25m from the roadside and much shock has been expressed that it is so close to where people are living, especially families.
Around 2km from Dunleer village, the road is a popular short-cut used by families taking their children to the local secondary school.
The location was first sealed off by gardaí on Monday afternoon. The Army bomb disposal team were called in when gardaí realised there were explosives and other dangerous items among the find.
Locals said the road provides a short-cut for families bringing children to Scoil Uí Mhuire secondary school in Dunleer.
The cache of arms, ammunition and explosives, was half a kilometre from the school.
Garda sources said they could not rule out a link between the find and a family originally from Armagh but who have strong links to Louth and are known supporters of the Real IRA.
In another worrying move for police forces on both sides of the Border, it appears that what had previously been two separate factions of the Real IRA have now put their rift to one side and there is now, “a cross over and co-operation between them”. “They would seem to be assisting each other now,” a source said.
One of the factions is aligned to the alleged leader of the Real IRA who also lives in Louth.
The results of a ballistics examination of what has been recovered will provide answers to where the arms originated and how long they had been concealed in the forest.
Meanwhile, gardaí say there will be no let-up in their efforts to thwart dissident activities.
Separately, PSNI detectives were holding four men for questioning at Antrim police station last night on suspicion of involvement in dissident republican paramilitary activity.
They were arrested when police stopped a car near Cookstown, Co Tyrone late on Monday night. A gun and ammunition were recovered by police.