Machine guns and ammunition seized and seven men arrested as gardaí thwart 'armed attack'

'To catch people with firearms and ammunition tends to mean they are en route to use them', according to one garda source, after the seven men, thought to be from two gangs, were arrested. 

Gardaí may have prevented serious injury or worse after they foiled a suspected violent extortion or armed attack on one crime group by a rival gang.

Detectives suspect the escalating feud involves a Belfast-based gang and a Romanian criminal network.