An explosives and arms cache found in Swords, Co Dublin, yesterday is understood to belong to the Provisional IRA. The find included one of the biggest quantities of Semtex to have been seized in this State.
Garda Special Branch officers raided the house yesterday morning and arrested a man in his 60s who owns the house. Later yesterday a man in his early 40s was arrested in the Ballybough area of Dublin.
The find included 20kg (about 44 lb) of Semtex, 10 detonators, eight timer power units, 14 incendiary bombs and 200 rounds of assorted ammunition, much of it in bad condition.
There were three handguns, two home-made and one an old British-manufactured revolver.
Along with the explosives and firearms, gardai found currency believed to be counterfeit and other documents, including birth and marriage certificates, which could be used for illegally obtaining passports.
Several Provisional IRA figures captured by security forces in Britain or on the Continent in the past two decades have had false passports and identification.
Gardai believe the arms and explosives had been in place for a considerable time and that the house was used for storage rather than for the preparation of bombs.
The house has been occupied by the same family since it was built about 30 years ago. The elderly occupier is a widower with grown children.
Neighbours said he was well respected in the area and described him as a quiet but friendly man who "kept to himself". None knew if he had any political connections.
The house was searched at about 10.30 a.m. yesterday by Garda Special Branch and technical officers.
The Army's Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team from Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin examined the explosive material before it was taken away.
The cache of Semtex is one of the largest ever found in the State and is also comparable with some of the most important IRA arms dump finds of recent years.
The Provisional IRA is believed to have imported about three tonnes of Semtex plastic explosive into the State in the mid-1980s and has used about half of this.
The cache found yesterday contained more Semtex than was found in the three Provisional IRA bomb factories discovered in recent years.
These were at Kilcock, where Semtex and incendiary bombs were found; at Clonaslee, Co Laois in May 1996, where explosives and mortar bombs were found; and last August in Cavan, where explosives and parts for 416 bombs were discovered.
In all four cases the Provisionals chose to store their materiel in houses owned by elderly people with no criminal or terrorist associations who were unlikely to attract attention or raise suspicion.
It did not appear yesterday that any other people were being detained by gardai in connection with the find.
The explosives were taken to Garda Headquarters for examination.
According to gardai, it is believed that the explosives have remained untouched, possibly since before the first Provisional IRA ceasefire in August 1994.