Two still in custody over dissidents' 'bomb factory'

Detectives were continuing to question two men today over the discovery of a suspected major dissident republican bomb-making operation in Co Louth.

The pair were arrested and component parts of a potentially significant explosive device seized in Saturday night’s planned raid by gardaí in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said lives were saved by the swoop, in which officers uncovered a number of items including two large modified gas cylinders fixed on to a trailer.

It is thought the raid of the outbuilding on the Old Newry Road in the town’s Mount Pleasant area could have thwarted an upcoming attack in the North similar to those carried out in recent months by extremists opposed to the peace process.

The suspects, aged 23 and 52, were taken to Drogheda Garda station for questioning. They can be held for up to three days under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Meanwhile the arrest scene, in an area surrounded by houses and factory units, was sealed off yesterday as experts from the Garda Technical Bureau conducted a forensic probe.

A number of items, including a car were taken away for further examination.

Mr Ahern said the threat from dissident groups remained strong but insisted authorities north and south of the border were determined to tackle them at every turn.

“The harsh reality is from time to time relatively small groups of people can succeed in committing violent acts,” he said.

“But these people will have to get the message one way or the other that their activities are doomed to fail.”

Gardaí and PSNI detectives were working closely to foil the dissidents, with intelligence suggesting many bomb operations have been planned and prepared in the Republic.

Mr Ahern – who last month met with the North’s new Justice Minister David Ford, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, and PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott – said north-south co-operation on security matters had never been better.

Later this week the minister and new UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, will publish the latest Independent Monitoring Commission report on the dissident threat.

“It will not surprise anyone,” Mr Ahern said.

“The threat from dissident groups is severe.”