Five men have been arrested after a man in his 20s was found with stab wounds in Co Louth on Sunday night.
Gardaí were called to an incident in the Moneymore Estate in Drogheda at 9pm. A man in his 20s was found with stab wounds and was removed to hospital. His injuries were described as not life-threatening.
Five men, including one teenager, three men aged in their 20s, and one man in his 40s, were arrested a short time later and were detained at Drogheda and Dundalk Garda stations.
Separately, an area of the Dublin Road in Drogheda was evacuated on Sunday following the discovery of a suspicious device.
The Army explosive ordnance disposal unit was requested to attend the scene and the device was understood to resemble a pipe bomb.
Gardaí were investigating if it was left there as part of an ongoing feud between two criminal groups in the area. There has been a series of violent incidents involving the groups over the last week, including two petrol bomb attacks.
‘Pipe bomb’
Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd said gardaí in Drogheda must be afforded “all necessary resources” to tackle criminality.
“The people of Drogheda are seriously concerned at the news that a pipe bomb was planted in the exhaust pipe of a car in the town this weekend. Thankfully the bomb failed and nobody was hurt. However, local people are aware of a number of incidents over recent weeks and months attributed to gang activity in Drogheda and it is clear that we must take swift action to put this to an end,” he said.
Mr O’Dowd said he is in “ongoing communication” with the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan in relation to the matter.
“It is imperative that all necessary resources be made available to An Garda Síochána in light of the very serious and concerning criminal activity that has taken place over the past number of days, including the extremely worrying use of possible viable bombs, the use of firearms and attempted murders,” he added. S
