LOI player arrested after arms seizure.
RTE Radio reported that one of the people arreseted is a LOI footballer. :eek:
Two held after Clonee arms seizure
01 November 2004 16:14
Gardaí in Dublin have arrested two people and seized a substantial quantity of arms and ammunition, following a raid on a house in Clonee this morning.
The raid is part of the garda operation delivery, the investigation into robberies of cash in transit vans and ATM machines.
Detectives found a machine gun, a sawn-off shotgun, a 9mm pistol and over 100 rounds of ammunition hidden in the bedroom. The ammunition was for each weapon.
The two men are being held at Blanchardstown Garda Station under Section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act. Both are in their 20s.
Shels docked 7 points for criminal activity!!!!!!
Soccer star quizzed as gardai hold two over arms haul
A LEAGUE of Ireland soccer star was one of two men being questioned by gardai after a major arms haul was seized yesterday.
Gardai believe they can link the cache with a spate of shootings and armed robberies in Dublin and surrounding counties.
The haul was recovered as a result of intelligence gathered through Operation Delivery, the garda crackdown on the crime gangs involved in raids on ATM machines and cash in transit vans.
One of the two suspects is a well-known soccer figure, who played for a leading club in the premier division of the league last week.
The second man is suspected by senior garda officers of being associated with the main gang involved in the raids.
Both suspects are from Dublin. They were being detained last night under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Blanchardstown garda station and were being questioned about the find and recent shootings in the city.
Gardai recovered a machine gun, a sawn-off shotgun and a 9mm pistol as well as more than 100 rounds of ammunition during a search of a rented house in Clonee on the outskirts of Dublin.
The swoop was carried out by detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and local gardai on the instructions of bureau boss, Det Chief Supt Martin Donnellan. This followed months of investigation into the activities of the Finglas-based gang primarily responsible for the robberies.
Detectives are satisfied that one of the guns was used in a raid on a security van in Hartstown last month and are also probing a possible link with an incident in which a garda was shot in the thumb when he confronted an armed gang planning to snatch money outside an ATM machine at a garage in Finglas.
Intelligence gained by the detective team involved in Operation Delivery pinpointed the rented Clonee premises as being used as a "safe" house by one of the targeted gangs to store their weaponry and plan future raids.
But gardai said some of the occupants may not have known the house was being used by the gang. Further arrests are expected.
Tom Brady
