Two men are due to appear in court this morning in connection with the seizure of a substantial quantity of high-powered weaponry which gardaí believe was destined for one of the drugs gangs embroiled in a feud in Limerick.
Up to 60 armed detectives from Cork and Limerick, along with officers from the Crime and Security Branch, the Emergency Response Unit and the National Surveillance Unit, were involved in the operation which culminated in the seizure of weapons and cash at two Cork hotels.
According to Garda sources, the sting-type operation involved gardaí seizing a substantial quantity of cash - believed to be over €40,000 - and arresting a man in his 20s from Ballincollig at the Rochestown Park Hotel at around 10pm on Friday night.
A short time later, detectives arrested a man from Tullamore, Co Offaly, in the car park of the Ibis Hotel at Dunkettle in Glanmire, where officers recovered a large haul of weaponry.
Detectives recovered some two dozen weapons in total from a large van driven by the man.
The weapons included high-powered pistols with silencers, a number of AK47 assault rifles and other assault rifles, some submachine guns, as well as two RPG 7 grenade launchers. Gardaí were tight-lipped about the origin of the weapons, but it is believed the pistols were sourced in Europe and brought in with drug shipments through Dublin, while they believe the rifles, submachine guns and grenade launchers, which can fire grenades over 1,000m, may have come from the UK.
The pistols were hidden in sportsgear bags while the rifles, submachine guns and grenade launchers were wrapped in plastic bags. They have all been sent to Dublin for forensic and ballistic examination in a bid to try and trace their origin and to establish if any have been used in crime in this country.
It is understood the operation involved close surveillance of suspects over the past few days and members of the ERU moved into position at Mayfield and Douglas Garda station on Friday evening in anticipation of the consignment being delivered to Cork contacts.
The operation, which also involved the Garda helicopter and airplane, continued when armed detectives raided a house in Ballincollig later on Friday night and arrested a man in his 20s - a brother of the man arrested in the Rochestown Park Hotel.
All three men were arrested under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to 48 hours. The two men arrested at the two hotels were brought to the Bridewell Garda station for questioning and both are due to appear at Cork District Court today.
Meanwhile, the man arrested in Ballincollig was brought to Togher Garda station where he was held for two days before being released without charge at around 8pm last night and gardaí will now prepare a file with regard to his involvement in the operation.
Gardaí are also to prepare a file in respect of a woman in her 20s.