Loyalist weapons seized

Police in Northern Ireland seized three guns and a quantity of ammunition after a loyalist paramilitary show of strength.

A sub-machine gun, two handguns and bullets were found in a holdall hidden in a hedge in the Grange Drive area of Ballyclare, Co Antrim.

A police spokeswoman said officers made the discovery in a search yesterday, following reports of shots being fired in the area.

‘‘The searches form part of ongoing police operations,’’ she added.

Last night police recovered a number of pipe bombs during a search of a hedgerow near Antrim Technical Park in Muckamore.

A police spokeswoman said the search followed a report of suspicious activity in the area, which is around 15 miles from Ballyclare.

Army bomb disposal experts attended the scene and the devices, which are predominantly used by loyalist paramilitaries, were taken away for forensic examination.

Ten guns, two pipe bombs, a booby-trap device and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found in two holdalls in the loft of a house in the staunchly loyalist Rathcoole estate, Belfast, on Tuesday.

Detectives believe those weapons belonged to the Ulster Defence Association, Northern Ireland’s largest loyalist terror organisation.