Terror suspects held after firearms and bullets haul seized

Published on Sunday 24 April 2011 19:01

Three men were charged last night with a series of terrorist offences linked to the recovery of a cache of suspected dissident republican firearms in Northern Ireland.

The suspects - aged 34, 35 and 39 - were arrested on Friday after police stopped a vehicle in Keady, south Armagh, near the Irish border. A significant amount of guns and ammunition was found in the vehicle.

The men, who were due to appear in court in Newry today, are charged with possession of firearms with intent to endanger life, prpreparing to commit an act of terrorism and possession of items likely to be of use to terrorists.

They were arrested as part of a security operation that has involved police in the Republic of Ireland.

The seizure on Friday night was the first of three significant hauls recovered in south Armagh in two days.

On Saturday officers made two separate discoveries of suspect bomb making equipment in planned searches.

Those finds brought no further arrests and police have not provided details of the locations.

Police urged members of the public to be on their guard. A spokesman said: "We are taking these steps to keep communities and officers safe. We would not do this unless it was not absolutely necessary to protect life."

The finds follow the discovery of a separate cache of weapons in Co Tyrone earlier this month. A 26-year-old man was arrested in Dunbartonshire in connection with the cache, and then rearrested in connection with the murder of Ronan Kerr, a Catholic police officer killed by a car bomb. The man has now been released without charge. A 33-year-old man appeared in court charged with Constable Kerr's murder yesterday.

Sinn Fein figurehead Martin McGuinness yesterday spoke out against dissident republicans. He said they were living in a "fool's paradise" if they believed they could reunite Ireland through violence.

Addressing a traditional republican commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, he said the action of the renegades was futile, stupid and selfish.

Claiming that the countdown was on to a united Ireland, Stormont's Deputy First Minister told crowds at Loup, Co Derry that it had to be achieved peacefully and democratically and with unionist support.

He also rejected claims from the extremists that they were the true IRA.Mr McGuinness told the crowd the IRA that existed during the Troubles was not a warmonger.

"People should be under no illusion: the small factions currently engaging in armed actions are not the IRA and they are not advancing national and democratic objectives by their activities," he said.

He added: "Those who believe Ireland can be reunited without the support of the Irish people are living in a fool's paradise."

Delivering an address at the graveside of Sean Larkin, a republican executed during the Irish Civil War, Mr McGuinness said unionists had to feel welcome in a united Ireland and acknowledged that many were terrified at the prospect.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old man arrested in Belfast on Saturday as part of a separate police operation against loyalist paramilitary activity was released yesterday unconditionally.

• Three men have been arrested after a 36-year-old man was shot dead in Co Down. The shooting happened in the Rooney Park area of Kilkeel at 10:30pm on Saturday. The victim was hit in the chest during a row between two groups of foreign nationals.