Gardai hold four in 'Real IRA' swoop

Detectives investigating the activities of dissident terrorists were today questioning four people thought to be members of the Real IRA.

The officers are reported to have raided a high-level meeting of the hard-line paramilitary group at a hotel in Bettystown, County Meath, shortly before 4pm yesterday afternoon.

The four are being held in garda stations in Dublin, a police spokesman said.

Under anti-terrorist legislation introduced in the wake of the Omagh bombing, they can be held for 72 hours before they must be released or charged.

It is understood that two of the men arrested are among the leadership of the Real IRA and have already been charged with offences before Dublin’s Special Criminal Court.

The arrests are the latest development in a continuing crackdown on the activities of dissident republicans linked to two paramilitary groups, the Real IRA - which claimed responsibility for the 1998 Omagh car bomb which killed 29 people and injured more than 200 - and the Continuity IRA.

Michael McKevitt, 51, who is alleged to be a former leader of the Real IRA, is currently awaiting trial on charges of membership of an illegal organisation and with directing terrorism.

His arrest followed the successful infiltration of the organisation by FBI agent David Rupert, who attended their Army Council meetings and was allegedly asked to acquire equipment.