Gardaí in Monaghan are still questioning a man in connection the seizure of arms in Croatia. The man is being detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. Police in Croatia seized weapons and explosives believed to have been destined for dissident Republican paramilitaries in Ireland. A report in today's Irish Times says that the weapons were seized earlier this week in the Adriatic city of Split, and a number of arrests were made in connection with the find. However, none of those detained in Croatia are believed to be Irish.
While exact details of the haul are not yet available, it is believed that the shipment contained plastic explosives, missiles, machine-guns, ammunition and detonating cord. The paper states that a number of senior Garda Special Branch officers travelled to Split after the operation. The arms discovered in Split are said to be identical to weapons found by Gardaí on a farm at Stamullen, County Meath, last October. That cache included RPG rockets, plastic explosives and electric detonators.
The Irish Times says that the discovery followed a trans-national police operation, in which dissident Republican arms buyers were tracked through Holland across Europe to the Balkans and the Middle East. The paper says that the operation had been going on for months.
The news coincides with today's meeting in Dublin between the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, and Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, to discuss the activities of dissident Republican groups.
