A MORTAR found when gardaí stopped a car on the M1 motorway on Tuesday night was primed and “ready to be used”, gardaí said yesterday. They said it was the first discovery of a mortar in such a state of readiness in some time.
Gardaí believe the interception of the car, a Northern Ireland-registered Peugeot 306, prevented a possible dissident republican attack.
A Garda source said the mortar could have caused destruction similar to that done in an 1985 IRA mortar attack on Newry police station that killed nine RUC officers.
Two men aged 27 and 25 from Co Armagh who were in the car were arrested. In follow-up searches that continued early yesterday, two other men were arrested in Co Louth.
The four men are being detained in Drogheda, Balbriggan and Santry Garda stations under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
The operation was carried out by the Garda Special Detective Unit assisted by local gardaí and the Emergency Response Unit.
In one of their follow-up searches in Dromiskin, Co Louth, component parts for mortars were recovered.
The Army Bomb Disposal Unit was called in to make safe the mortar in the car. It was stopped on the northbound carriageway of the motorway at about 9.30pm.
The bomb disposal team was also called to deal with the mortar components in Dromiskin.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern praised the work of the Garda, saying “great credit is due to them for their painstaking work in nullifying this specific threat”.
“Their work is ongoing and this Government will continue to provide the support and assistance required to tackle such ongoing threats head on.”
He also praised the work of the Defence Forces.
Louth-based Green Party senator Mark Dearey said dissidents were planning a “direct attack on the Good Friday agreement and a threat to human life”.