THE DISCOVERY of components for five pipe bombs in a Dublin suburb is being linked by investigating gardaí to the Continuity IRA (CIRA).
The devices were found yesterday afternoon in a flat on Ulster Street, Phibsboro, north Dublin. Three people, two men and a woman, were arrested after a flat was raided by gardaí and the components for pipe bomb devices discovered. The raid, which took place just before 5pm, was part of an ongoing operation by the Special Detective Unit into the activities of dissident republicans.
The rented flat in which the components were found is one of a number of units in a large house. The other flats in the house as well as adjacent houses were evacuated. Gardaí requested assistance from the Army’s bomb disposal experts. The components were examined and were found to contain no explosive material.
The Army’s team then declared the area safe. Gardaí believe the components were being stored at the flat and say it is unlikely devices were being constructed there.
The flat was sealed off last night. Members of the Garda Technical Bureau will carry out an in-depth examination of the property throughout today. The seized components will also be examined by the Garda’s technical experts.
A car parked outside the property on Ulster Street was also taken from the scene by gardaí yesterday. It will undergo a technical examination today.
Gardaí said while the investigation is in its early stages they are satisfied the find is linked to the CIRA. The men in custody, who are in their 30s and from Dublin’s Balyfermot and Castleknock, are criminals suspected of making devices for both the CIRA and Real IRA. They are not members of either organisation.
They are being detained at Blackrock and Donnybrook Garda stations.
The arrests come at a time of increased Garda surveillance on suspected dissident republicans after the shooting dead in the North of two British soldiers and a police constable by the Real IRA and CIRA.
