A MAN and a woman were arrested by gardaí yesterday after a Customs operation led to the seizure of a pipe bomb, stun guns and imitation firearms in a house in Co Louth.
They were found in various locations in a house on New Road, Bellurgan about 6km north of Dundalk.
The weapons were posted to the address and when Customs officers became aware of this, they carried out a so-called controlled delivery. This involves monitoring a package until it is delivered to its address. The packages are believed to have originated in the Far East.
Customs had the assistance of armed detectives from Dundalk in yesterday’s operation.
The search of the house uncovered 30 stun guns disguised as mobile phones, a number of other imitation weapons and, in a search of a bedroom, they recovered what appeared to be a pipe bomb.
The gardaí then requested the Army bomb disposal team. The Defence Forces press office confirmed that “a viable improvised explosive device” was made safe.
“No controlled explosion was carried out, but the device was dismantled on scene. The bomb disposal officer gave the all clear at 2.45pm. The remains of the device were handed over to gardaí on scene for investigation into the incident,” a spokesman said.
A Garda source said it appeared to be “a pipe bomb that needed to be lit to ignite it. It will now be forensically examined”.
Another source said: “At this stage we do not believe it is linked to other recent incidents in Dundalk involving pipe bombs.”
In September a similar type of pipe bomb was picked up by an unsuspecting member of the public who thought it was a firework. It had been left outside a house in an estate in the town.