Police investigating the loyalists feud have announced the discovery of a bomb-making factory at a Protestant housing estate outside Belfast.
The weaponry seized in a raid on a house in the town of Carrickfergus just north of the city included a fully-primed under-car booby trap, pipe bombs, explosive powder, bomb-making equipment, a handgun and bags of ammunition.
"We are delighted to remove this material from our street which undoubtedly would have resulted in death, serious injury and destruction," Northern Ireland's acting assistant chief constable Maggie Hunter told reporters.
"As a result of the find we have made three arrests."
The operation followed a shooting in the town on Tuesday which left a 37-year-old man critically wounded.
Police linked the attack to a festering feud within the Ulster Defence Association.
Two men have been killed in the past two weeks in the feud between the mainstream UDA and a faction loyal to its ousted west Belfast commander Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair.