GARDAÍ ARE trying to establish if eight viable pipe bombs that were found during an intelligence-led search operation in the midlands were destined for the Limerick gangland feud.
Two men have been arrested in relation to the find in Co Longford. The suspects were being questioned last night at Longford town Garda station.
The men, who are related and are in their 40s and late teens, were arrested after the explosive devices were found during a search of a house on Killashee Road, Knockonboy, just outside Longford town on Sunday night. The eight devices were found at the rear of the building.
Gardaí believe the arrested men were about to move them from the area when gardaí moved in.
The area was immediately sealed off when the devices were found and the Army’s bomb disposal unit was called in. Army personnel were on the scene at 9.35pm and an inspection revealed the devices were viable.
The bomb disposal experts made safe the eight devices at the house without the need to carry out a controlled explosion. The area was declared safe at 10.25pm.
The devices were then taken to Custume Military Barracks in Athlone for closer inspection. The devices contained explosives and were only missing fuses. They did not have timers, which meant they would have been thrown into a target area after the fuse was lit.
The men being held last night are from Longford. They are not known to gardaí for any involvement in paramilitary or gangland activity.
In a follow-up operation, gardaí in Longford yesterday searched a second property linked to the two arrested men. The search did not yield any further devices.
Garda sources said the origin of the eight explosive devices remains unclear. It is also not known to whom the bombs were to be supplied, but some Garda sources said the Limerick gangs could not be ruled out.
In recent years pipe bombs have been used by feuding gangs in both Dublin and Limerick.
Devices have also been used by the INLA to threaten drug dealers and extort money from them. Pipe bombs have also been associated with a number of Traveller feuds.
Gardaí believe many of the devices seized in the last two to three years have been supplied by dissident republicans to crime gangs for a payment. The Army was also called out to six other suspect finds in Dublin, all of which turned out to be hoaxes.
