Member of 'hit team' confronted by armed garda unit jailed by Special Criminal Court

A member of a "hit team" has been jailed for eight years by the Special Criminal Court for having a Beretta handgun and silencer after a confrontation with armed gardaí during which an officer opened fire on a jeep.

The three-judge court heard Owen Cummins had driven the jeep straight towards gardaí in a narrow roadway as they restrained his co-accused on the ground. One of the officers drew his firearm at the defendant as he had feared for his life and that of the man he was restraining on the ground.