Three men have been arrested, and firearms as well as ammunition seized, as part of a major operation in north Cork involving over 60 members of An Garda Siochána.
The three men, aged in their 60s, 30s, and 20s, are being detained under the Offences Against the State Act at a garda station in the north of the county.
The search operation in Charleville and Mallow was part of an ongoing investigation into incidents of violent disorder and criminal damage in north Cork in recent months which has seen armed patrols and high visibility checkpoints in the area.
Detectives have also been drafted in from around the county as part of the garda investigation.
The three firearms and ammunition recovered today have been sent for further ballistics analysis to the Garda Technical Bureau.
The operation involved members of the Armed Support, Air Support and Cork County Serious Crime Units, as well as the Serious Crime Unit from Co Limerick.
Teams from the Divisional Search Unit, together with personnel from the Dog Unit and the Scenes of Crime Unit were also involved in the search operation which got underway at 9am.
In August, a child was badly injured when a group of men attempted to break into her home armed with suspected slash hooks.
Separately, masked men fired guns at and tried to set a property alight, as well as firing shots between vehicles travelling near O'Rourke's Cross on the N20 Charleville-Limerick Road.
