TWO MEN have been arrested following the seizure of weapons and ammunition after a Garda surveillance operation which targeted one of the country's most active organised crime gangs.
The guns were found in Clondalkin, Dublin, just after they had been moved from one vehicle to another. Following the delivery on St Bridget's Road, Clondalkin, members of the Garda's Organised Crime Unit moved in and searched the vehicles.
They found four Glock handguns, four magazines and up to 100 rounds of ammunition in one of the cars. The drivers of the two vehicles, aged 35 and 40, were arrested at the scene.
They were taken to Clondalkin Garda station, where they were still being held last night. They were being questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, and can be held without charge for up to 72 hours.
They are expected to appear before the courts as early as today. The men are from the Ballyfermot and Kilbarrack areas of Dublin.
Senior Garda sources said the arrested men would not be regarded as major criminal figures. Detectives believe they were being paid by a gang based in the Crumlin and Drimnagh areas of the city to transport the weapons.
Gardaí are working on the theory that the guns are owned by a criminal gang which has been involved in feuding with another gang, also from Crumlin and Drimnagh. The fighting has cost 10 lives since the beginning of the decade.
The leader of the drugs gang, which is believed to own the seized guns and ammunition, has fled to Spain in recent weeks after being warned by gardaí that his life was under threat.