Submissions made in trial of suspected bomb makers

Closing submissions are expected to conclude at the Special Criminal Court next week in the trial of two men accused of having a massive haul of explosives near the border last year.

Joseph Fee (aged 40), of Blackstaff, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, and Eamonn Matthews (aged 25), Dublin Road, Killeen, Newry, Co Down have pleaded not guilty to the unlawful possession of an explosive substance - ammonium nitrate and sugar (ANS) - and having the explosive with intent to endanger life at Thornfield, Inniskeen, Co Louth on June 13, 2003.

The prosecution case finished today with closing submissions from Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL. The court also heard closing submissions from Mr Paul Burns SC, for Fee.

The court will hear closing submissions from Mr Blaise O'Carroll for Matthews next week.

The court has heard that Fee and Matthews were arrested after a major Garda operation in north Co Louth last year. The operation culminated on June 13 when gardaí entered a farmyard and shed at Thornfield and found two men manufacturing a bomb.

The trial continues next Tuesday.