THE ARMY bomb disposal team was last night called in to make safe what was suspected to be a number of bags of explosives, possibly home-made explosives.
It is understood they were found hidden behind a washing machine in the kitchen of a vacant house on Chapel Road, Clogherhead, Co Louth.
They were found by a person who was checking the house which had been unoccupied for a number of weeks.
He immediately alerted gardaí and they requested the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. Each house either on side of the semi-detached cottage style building was evacuated.
Chapel Road is an extension of the main street in the fishing village and it was sealed off for a number of hours by gardaí. The armed regional support unit was also at the scene.
“This is all a bit crazy. I thought times had changed and that the violence and things like that in the Border area were a thing of the past.
“I have a 10-month old child and this is just astonishing,” said neighbour Neil Duff.
Gardaí would not confirm the possibility that the house was known to be vacant and was being used as a storage facility by either dissident Republicans or organised criminals.
In April the Army bomb disposal team was also called to the village – to deal with a nail bomb that was thrown through the window of a house in an estate on the other side of the village.