Cavan gardaí last night said the armed gang involved in a shoot-out with them near Virginia late on Monday had access to a "frightening" amount of arms and ammunition, write Conor Lally and Elaine Keogh.
"We are lucky this gang did not leave us with two murdered gardaí," one source said.
While six people were being held last night in connection with Monday night's events, gardai said three gang members who fled the scene were still at large and the search for them was continuing in the Virginia area.
A massive cache of weapons was discovered at a house at Coppenagh Cross - two miles west of Virginia on the road to Ballyjamesduff - where Monday night's events unfolded. The haul included handguns, shotguns, rifles, sawn-off shotguns and a very large amount of ammunition.
The gang involved in the incident made an attempt to abduct one garda at gunpoint. However, when Garda reinforcements arrived, at least one member of the gang exchanged fire with an armed detective.
One gang member was arrested but up to four of his associates escaped in the darkness across fields.
The men are suspected of having been involved in a string of incidents in the north midlands in recent months. They are also suspected of having been behind a robbery at the home of a Balbriggan arms dealer last week.
During that raid members of the arms dealer's family were blindfolded while a group of armed men ransacked their home before making off with 14 shotguns, money and jewellery in the early hours of last Friday morning. The ordeal lasted for over an hour.
Those suspected of involvement in Monday's incident are believed to belong to a west Dublin gang involved in the drugs trade. Many of them are said to be drug-users as well as dealers. They have been linked in recent months to the hijacking of a van near Slane and a post office robbery in Navan, both in Co Meath.
The events of Monday night began just after 10 p.m. when a member of the public phoned Virginia gardaí to report suspicious activity at a house in the area. An attempt was made to contact the Dublin-based owner but when that failed a lone garda decided to investigate. Before doing so he alerted his colleagues that back-up might be required.
The garda noticed a broken window at the rear of the house. When he entered the premises a gang of five men arrived there and demanded to know who he was. When it emerged he was a garda who wanted to know their identity, the men tried to bundle him into the back of their car.
A struggle ensued and at that point Garda back-up arrived. One gang member opened fire on the gardaí, who by this stage had managed to arrest two of the men. An armed detective accompanying the uniformed gardaí returned fire.
The men then dispersed and fled the scene. One of the arrested men managed to escape but the other arrested man was taken to Monaghan Garda station were he was still being questioned last night. He is a 29-year-old and is believed to be from Blanchardstown, Dublin.
In follow-up operations overnight four people - two men and two women - were arrested. At least three of those were arrested in Co Meath. A sixth person was arrested early yesterday morning after he was discovered at a graveyard near Virginia.
A white Citroen van which was stolen from the Virginia area late on Monday night was recovered at Kilmainham Woods in Kells, Co Meath, yesterday afternoon. Gardaí believe some of the men who escaped may have used the van.
Virginia Garda can be contacted at 049-8547002.