TEN HELD NORTH AND SOUTH IN BLAST GANG ROUNDUP
North and South in blast gang roundup
By TOM BRADY, Security Editor
TEN suspects were being questioned by police last night after a cross-Border strike against the Real IRA terror gang responsible for the Omagh bombing atrocity last month.
They were arrested in a co-ordinated series of raids by the Garda and RUC on houses in south Armagh and Co Monaghan yesterday.
Anti-terrorist chiefs on both sides of the Border said last night they were very satisfied with progress achieved by the two investigation teams during the past few days and were hopeful of further significant advances. 'The arrests were a result of a policy of immediate sharing of intelligence gathered and collated by the two police teams based at Omagh and Carrickmacross. "Contact is now virtually on an hourly basis," one senior source said.
The arrests are understood to be linked to the theft of the Vauxhall Cavalier used in the bombing and its storage in the two days prior to the atrocity in which 29 people were killed.
Yesterday also gardai recovered substances they believe were being used by the Real IRA in the manufacture of homemade bombs similar to the Omagh device. Last night the substances were being forensically examined in Dublin.
BROTHERS HELD
Four brothers from Castleblaney, Co Monaghan, were detained by the Garda - three of them shortly after 6 am and the fourth around lunchtime. They were being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Carrickmacross and Monaghan garda stations and can be held for up to three days.
Six others were arrested by the RUC in dawn raids on homes in south Armagh and they can be held at Gough barracks, Armagh for up to seven days.
The Garda investigation team, headed by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty, has been concentrating its investigation on a gang of former car thieves who had affiliated themselves to Real IRA associates.
With almost 20 arrests in the past month the team has achieved a breakthrough in the investigation into the cell responsible for the Real IRA car bomb intercepted by the Emergency Response Unit at Dun Laoghaire car ferry last April. Gardai believe the bomb was being taken to Liverpool for an attack coinciding with the Aintree Grand National.
Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne said yesterday he believed that some of the legislation introduced by the two governments in the wake of the Omagh blast could be used retrospectively. Speaking at an international conference on weaponry at Malahide, he also called for the restrictions on the right to silence for suspects for terrorist offences to be extended to all types of crime.
By TOM BRADY, Security Editor
TEN suspects were being questioned by police last night after a cross-Border strike against the Real IRA terror gang responsible for the Omagh bombing atrocity last month.
They were arrested in a co-ordinated series of raids by the Garda and RUC on houses in south Armagh and Co Monaghan yesterday.
Anti-terrorist chiefs on both sides of the Border said last night they were very satisfied with progress achieved by the two investigation teams during the past few days and were hopeful of further significant advances. 'The arrests were a result of a policy of immediate sharing of intelligence gathered and collated by the two police teams based at Omagh and Carrickmacross. "Contact is now virtually on an hourly basis," one senior source said.
The arrests are understood to be linked to the theft of the Vauxhall Cavalier used in the bombing and its storage in the two days prior to the atrocity in which 29 people were killed.
Yesterday also gardai recovered substances they believe were being used by the Real IRA in the manufacture of homemade bombs similar to the Omagh device. Last night the substances were being forensically examined in Dublin.
BROTHERS HELD
Four brothers from Castleblaney, Co Monaghan, were detained by the Garda - three of them shortly after 6 am and the fourth around lunchtime. They were being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Carrickmacross and Monaghan garda stations and can be held for up to three days.
Six others were arrested by the RUC in dawn raids on homes in south Armagh and they can be held at Gough barracks, Armagh for up to seven days.
The Garda investigation team, headed by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty, has been concentrating its investigation on a gang of former car thieves who had affiliated themselves to Real IRA associates.
With almost 20 arrests in the past month the team has achieved a breakthrough in the investigation into the cell responsible for the Real IRA car bomb intercepted by the Emergency Response Unit at Dun Laoghaire car ferry last April. Gardai believe the bomb was being taken to Liverpool for an attack coinciding with the Aintree Grand National.
Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne said yesterday he believed that some of the legislation introduced by the two governments in the wake of the Omagh blast could be used retrospectively. Speaking at an international conference on weaponry at Malahide, he also called for the restrictions on the right to silence for suspects for terrorist offences to be extended to all types of crime.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/157
Published Date: 23-Sep-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.