Five held as part of CIRA probe
Detectives seized seven firearms, as well as a quantity of ammunition, during a series of co-ordinated raids across the city.
Sources said the firearms were replica guns that were capable of being converted into real firearms.
Officers from the Special Detective Unit (SDU), the Garda’s anti-terrorist squad, conducted the operation on Sunday night.
The SDU is combating the activities of dissident republican organisations, including the Continuity IRA (CIRA), the Real IRA (RIRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
The arrests on Sunday are part of an investigation into the terrorist and criminal activities of the CIRA in Dublin.
In a statement, a Garda spokesman said: “As a result of ongoing investigations into dissident republican and criminal activity, members of An Garda Síochána’s Special Detective Unit arrested five people in Dublin city.”
He said the five people — four men and one woman — were detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. This allows for a maximum detention period of three days.
The five are being held in Terenure, Blackrock and Shankill garda stations. Four are aged in their 20s and one male is in his 60s.
Gardaí are carrying out forensic and ballistic tests on the firearms seized.
“Gardaí also recovered seven firearms and a quantity of ammunition,” said the Garda spokesman. “These are all currently being examined by the Garda Technical Bureau.”
Sources said the firearms were replica guns, which can be bought legally in some European countries. The guns can then be converted by experts into active firearms.
It is understood that some of the five people arrested are known to the gardaí.
Gardaí have had considerable success against both the CIRA and the RIRA in recent years.
There are an estimated 21 members of the CIRA and 30 members of the Real IRA in custody in Portlaoise Prison, the state’s maximum security institution.
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