GARDAI in Donegal have scaled down their search of Malin Head, where five Northern Ireland men were arrested on Wednesday evening.
The men were released yesterday without charge, after being held for most of the 48 hours allowed by Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
Supt John Fitzgerald of Letterkenny Garda station said gardai were "easing back" their investigations at Malin Head and nearby Ballygorman, on the Inishowen peninsula.
Special Branch and uniformed officers had been searching the peninsula, where weapons including a primed self propelled grenade were found last Sunday.
The men left for the North shortly after their release from Buncrana, Burnfoot and Letterkenny Garda stations at about 4 p.m. yesterday.
Gardai have held their equipment which includes a yellow 20 foot inflatable dinghy with seating for four, a trailer for the boat and a black Land Rover Discovery with Northern Ireland registration plates.
Gardai have also kept a radio scanner, camouflage netting, food and sleeping bags found in the men's possession.
Garda sources said yesterday the force had established that four of the men had criminal connections and the group was not suspected of paramilitary involvement.
The men had been arrested near Ballygorman, where a substantial cache of arms was found last Sunday. No arms or other evidence was found to connect the men to any subversive organisation or covert military operation.
Although the men said nothing on why they were at the scene it appears their boat got into difficulties on a trip from Antrim to Donegal and was deliberately run ashore, from where one of the occupants telephoned an associate for help.
Two men arrived in the LandRover with a trailer attached, and at this stage gardai moved in to arrest them. Gardai had the group under surveillance for some time before the arrests.
The men gave addresses in Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Portrush, Co Antrim. One theory for their unexplained presence is that they were planning a rendezvous with another vessel, possibly to collect a drugs consignment.
The dinghy and the LandRover were being kept by gardai at Letterkenny yesterday. Both appeared quite new and would be valued at more than £30,000.
The Garda investigation is continuing. The RUC said it could not comment on the arrests as they took place outside its jurisdiction.
Garda activity at Malin Head had been intense during the week following the discovery of the arms near Ballygorman on Sunday.
Six men appeared at the Special Criminal Court on Monday following the find, which included two Kalashnikov AK47 assault rifles, ammunition and the grenade launcher.