Two Derry men have been charged at a special sitting at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin with possession of explosives.
Mr Thomas Ashe Mellon (23), Cromore Gardens, and Mr Raymond Griffith (34), Slievemore Park, were remanded in custody on Saturday after being charged with possession of explosives in Bal leeghan, Manorcunningham, Co Donegal, on June 24th.
Det Garda Patrick Mulligan told the court he arrested Mr Mellon at Ballgeeghan, Co Donegal, on suspicion of unlawfully possessing explosives, at 1.30 a.m. last Thursday. Det Garda John O'Toole said Mr Griffith was arrested at 12.45 p.m. at Manorcunningham, Co Donegal, on the same date.
The court found, however, that there was not enough evidence to charge Mr Griffith and he was subsequently released. He was immediately rearrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Law Act for the purposes of bringing him before the court.
Mr Griffith was then later charged with identical offences and the two were remanded in custody until July 13th.
The charges against the two men were that they knowingly had in their possession explosive substances, three bags of fertiliser, 3.5 litres of methylated spirits, a heavy-duty gas ring, a stainless steel heater tank with a lid, a 3 kilowatt electric element, a black powder substance, electronic weighing scales, mechanical weighing scales, a coffee grinder, five mixing bowls, three frying pan covers, two buckets, a quantity of plastic funnels, spatulas, graduated plastic containers, two beer kegs, one five-gallon plastic drum, one radio scanner and two pairs of gloves and overalls, giving rise to a reasonable suspicion that they did not have these in their possession for a lawful purpose.