Garda put Laois explosives find on display

MORTARS and bomb making equipment from the Clonaslee arms and explosives find last Thursday were put on display at Garda Headquarters in Dublin yesterday.

Mortars, mortar launchers, mortar parts, grenade tubes, explosives including 5lb of Semtex incendiary chemicals, timers, containers of nitric acid, a machine gun and a scales were ally put on show.

Over 200 detonators and eighth grenades, along with the remainder of the 30 kilo grammes off Semtex found in a bunker beneath a farmhouse, had already been destroyed by the Army.

Responding to questions following the Taoiseach's remarks in the Dail yesterday that a new type of bomb had been found, gardai suggested that what was found was a new type of timer. Mortar heads already packed with explosive indicated they were probably intended for early use.

The find followed a tip off to gardai searching for Det Garda Jerry McCabe's killers. It told of an IRA bomb factory at farm buildings in the Slieve Bloom mountains.

Gardai raided the farm at Clonaslee on Thursday evening and, after a brief confrontation found the items put on display yesterday. Six men were arrested.

The find was described yesterday by Det Insp Edwin Handcock, of the Garda forensic team, as a very major haul. One of the biggest we have made of the homemade type".

He said the bunker was "about the size of a double bedroom" and high enough for a person to stand upright. His colleague, Det Garda Eugene O'Gilligan, explained that a new type of timer found with the haul was probably no more sophisticated than those already used by the IRA.

The scales was used for weighing small quantities of gunpowder involved in reloading cartridge cases.