GARDAÍ IN Cork have seized more than €90,000 in cash, a handful of imitation firearms and a small quantity of cannabis during a series of raids targeting the activities of dissident republicans in the city and county.
More than 60 detectives including members from the crime and security branch at Anglesea Street Garda HQ raided 16 homes in Cork city and county yesterday morning as part of a planned operation against suspected members of the Real IRA.
Detectives raided houses in Mayfield, Blackpool, Farranree, Gurranebraher, Knocknaheeny and Ballyvolane on Cork’s north side, Bishopstown and Ballyphehane on Cork’s south side as well as Glenville in north Cork.
A house was also searched in Tallaght in west Dublin.
The Irish Times understands that gardaí recovered more than €90,000 in cash in a raid on one house in Knocknaheeney, while they also seized a small number of what are believed to be imitation handguns and a small quantity of cannabis in other searches.
Det Supt Tom Hayes of Anglesea Street Garda station said that no one had been arrested but pointed out that the raids were “part of an ongoing investigation into dissident and criminal activity in the Cork area”.
It is believed that gardaí also seized some documentation in yesterday’s raids. It was unclear, however, whether they seized copies of a statement issued at the weekend by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement on behalf of the Real IRA threatening drug dealers.
In the statement, which was circulated in up to eight pubs across the north side of the city, the Real IRA warned that it was targeting drug dealers.
The group again admitted responsibility for the murder of convicted drug dealer Gerard Stanton.
Stanton (41), originally from Kilkieran Close in Hollyhill, was shot dead by a man armed with a sawn-off shotgun as he was about to get into his car at his rented house at Westlawn off Sarsfield Road on Cork’s south side on January 2nd.
In addition to admitting responsibility for Stanton’s murder, and for a shooting in 2008 that left another man in Cork paralysed, the Real IRA in its statement also named another man convicted of drug-dealing offences and issued a warning that it may also kill him.
The group said the man was caught with a large quantity of heroin but that in June 2008 he was given a suspended jail sentence. It warned that it may take action against him.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed the leniency of the six-year suspended sentence handed down to the man in the Cork Circuit Criminal Court. The matter is currently in the lists before the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The Real IRA said it would continue to target drug dealers and, in reference to this specific case, said a “mandatory 10-year sentence is expected” for this crime.
Gardaí have confirmed to The Irish Times that they have taken appropriate measures to alert the man in question of the threat and that they are treating the matter very seriously while continuing to investigate the activities of dissident republicans.