Explosives and weapons found near teenagers' hangout

A criminal gang left a deadly cache of explosives and weapons next to a spot where young teenagers regularly gather, it emerged today.

Four pipe bombs, three guns and ammunition were discovered in a planned search of a derelict site in the Roxboro area of Limerick last night.

In a separate incident a controlled explosion was carried out in Dublin this morning after a pipe bomb was discovered under a car.

Gardaí sealed off Stanaway Road in Crumlin for around 90 minutes until the army’s bomb disposal team removed the viable device for further examination at around 11.30am.

Limerick city councillor Lilly Wallace, who lives close to where the weapon were found off the Childers Road, revealed the stash was hidden near a wall in an open area in a residential setting.

“There are lots of children in the area but luckily they don’t play that far back, but teenagers gather around there at night,” she said.

“It’s a very quiet residential area and we’ve never had a problem like this before. It has come as quite a shock.

“Everybody was just relieved that they found all of this before it came to any danger.

“The gardaí said at this stage they have to carry out further investigations, but it is believe it is more than likely they were hidden there by a gang from another part of the city.”

Detectives were continuing to probe the origins and source of the explosives and firearms, which included two sawn-off shotgun and a rifle.

A Defence Forces spokesman said two controlled explosions were carried out at the scene by an army bomb disposal team.

“Two weapons were handed over to the gardaí for their investigations and four viable improvised explosive devices were removed from the scene for further detailed examinations by our teams,” said the spokesman.

“The scene was declared safe at 1.50am.”

Ms Wallace said there was no panic in the area when the controlled explosions were carried out.

“It wasn’t like a big bang, it just sounded like an impact, like two cars crashing,” she continued.

“A lot of people came out to watch but no-one was in any danger and they didn’t have to evacuate anyone.

“People were amazed that this happened here.”