State Archives: Fears over Semtex falling into hands of subversives

The Government here asked the Czech authorities in the late 1980s to take steps to ensure that explosive material manufactured in Czechoslovakia did not fall into the hands of subversive groups, including the IRA.

State files show that the Government had grown increasingly concerned about the amount of Semtex — a plastic explosive manufactured in Czechoslovakia — that was falling into the hands of republican paramilitary groups at the time.