GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the planting of an explosive device outside the Dublin headquarters of Shell last September have discovered a suspect device at the home of a prominent republican in the city.
The home of James Monaghan, one of the so-called "Colombia Three", at Abbey Field, Killester, Dublin, was raided at 6.30am yesterday. It was sealed off for a full search when the suspect device was found.
The Irish Timesunderstands the device found at the property was a hoax constructed to give the impression it was viable.
The area was sealed off and gardaí requested the assistance of the Army's bomb disposal team.
Members of the team examined the device and quickly concluded it was not viable and did not need to be made safe. Four people were arrested in Killester, Dublin, yesterday morning in connection with the Garda operation. Mr Monaghan, who has convictions for training Colombia's Farc rebels, was not among those arrested.
One of the four arrested is a 16-year-old schoolboy. The other male arrested is aged 67 years, while the women arrested are aged 57 and 19 years. They were detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and taken to Pearse Street, Donnybrook, Kevin Street and Harcourt Terrace Garda stations.
The search and arrests were carried out by a Garda team investigating the planting of a device outside Shell's Corrib House offices on Leeson Street in Dublin's south inner city on September 15th. An Army spokesman described it as "viable, home-made, crude and highly-dangerous". Gardaí believe the device was linked to a protest at Shell's controversial Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo.
Detectives believe while the device was planted by people who supported the protest, and visited the pipeline site at Glengad, there is no suggestion that any of the groups formally opposed to the project were involved in planting the device.
Mr Monaghan was the subject of media reports in September when it emerged a wanted convicted terrorist from the Basque separatist Eta group had travelled to Ireland and was using his address as a contact address.
Inaki de Juana Chaos (52) was sentenced to 3,000 years in prison for a series of 25 murders in the 1980s. He was released from prison after 21 years on August 3rd and flew to Ireland.
However, on his release he wrote a letter expressing his support for the continuation of Eta's terrorist campaign. The letter was read at a meeting and also published in a pro-Eta newspaper.
Mr De Juana Chaos, a former leader of Eta's "Madrid commando", is now wanted for the crime of "terrorism apologist". He applied for a passport at the Spanish embassy in Dublin using Mr Monaghan's address in Killester.
A Spanish court yesterday issued an arrest warrant for Mr De Juana Chaos after he failed to attend a court appearance. He is believed to be staying in Belfast with members of the republican movement and is being represented by a law firm in the city.