Cork raids: Garda monitoring of a Provisional IRA group in Cork was central to yesterday's arrests of seven people along with the seizure of over £2.3 million, including £65,000 in Northern Ireland banknotes, and a further €94,000.
Gardaí in Cork, along with gardaí from the Criminal Assets Bureau and the National Bureau of Fraud Investigation, have been targeting republican funding on an ongoing basis over recent weeks.
Detectives in Dublin moved in on Wednesday evening when they arrested a well-known republican activist from Cork just after he was met off a train from Cork by two men from Derry, who were waiting for him in a Northern Ireland-registered jeep at Heuston Station.
Gardaí recovered €94,000 when they arrested the three men in the station car-park and detectives believe that the money was laundered cash which was being delivered by the Cork man to the two Derry men, who are known to be involved in the republican movement.
All three were arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act on suspicion of being members of an unlawful organisation and were taken for questioning to Garda Stations in Dublin.
They can be held for 48 hours, which can be extended up to seven days.
Meanwhile detectives in Cork moved quickly in a follow-up operation and late on Wednesday night arrested a man in the Passage West area of the city and another on Cork's southside.
Detectives recovered some £65,000 in a sports bag in the second raid in the Douglas area when they searched the single- story house and the money was yesterday being preserved for forensic examination and analysis by Garda experts.
The money is believed to be made up of several denominations of Northern Ireland banknotes and gardaí are liaising closely with the PSNI to establish if any of the notes are among those stolen in the Northern Bank raid on December 20th which was is being blamed on the Provisional IRA.
The two men were taken to Togher Garda Station for questioning but one was later transferred to Mayfield Garda Station for questioning about the cash find and suspected money-laundering operations.
The man arrested in the Passage West area is a former Sinn Féin public representative and another arrested man is regarded by Garda sources as a senior member of the Provisional IRA in Cork city.
Meanwhile, Garda sources have confirmed that the 30-year- old Cork man arrested in Dublin on Wednesday - who is from the Togher area of the city - has alternated in his allegiances between the "Real IRA" and the Provisional IRA over the past two years or so.
Yesterday, gardaí carried out another follow-up operation and raided a house in the Farran area - midway between Cork city and Macroom - where they recovered £2.3 million and arrested a 55-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman. Last night Garda experts began a forensic examination of the money.
The two were arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and taken to the Bridewell Garda Station in Cork city for questioning.