Suspected dissident held

Gardaí were last night questioning a suspected dissident republican after a Glock handgun and ammunition were seized when the taxi he was travelling in was stopped as part of a surveillance operation.

The man, a 20-year-old from Coolock, north Dublin, is the grandson of a senior republican.

Gardaí believe he was transporting the gun on behalf of a group of men in their late 20s and early 30s linked to dissident republicanism and organised crime.

Detectives do not believe the arrested man was about to use the gun in any attack.

The men he has been linked to have been involved in threats of violence to extort money from Dublin drug gangs and businessmen in recent years.