Uh-oh... the future ain't looking so good
Dec. 10th, 2005 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hawkwing_lbBomb linked to IRA splinter group
A bomb intercepted by gardai at the M50 toll bridge was linked to an extortion racket waged by the Continuity IRA against drug dealers.
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1524434&issue_id=13401
Tom Brady
Security Editor
A BOMB intercepted by gardai at the M50 toll bridge was linked to an extortion racket waged by the Continuity IRA against drug dealers.
The remnants of the lunchbox-type device were examined yesterday by garda forensic experts in a bid to identify its manufacturer.
It was made safe in a controlled explosion by an Army bomb disposal unit at the scene.
Last night the driver of the car containing the device and another man arrested in a garda swoop were being questioned at Clondalkin garda station.
They are being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which means they can be detained without charge for up to 72 hours.
The 24-year-old driver is known to gardai as a criminal suspect from the Finglas area who has been associating with members of the Continuity IRA over the past couple of years.
The bomb was found on a child's seat in the back of the Nissan Almera car when members of the Garda Special Branch and Emergency Response Unit surrounded the vehicle as it stopped at the West Link toll bridge on Thursday night.
The second suspect is a 56-year-old anti-drugs campaigner from Clondalkin and he was arrested at his home early yesterday.
The Continuity IRA has been operating an extortion racket in Dublin for several years and has mainly concentrated on pubs, clubs and other commercial premises in a bid to raise funds.
But associates of the renegade republican group have also been heavily involved more recently in campaigns against traffickers in drug-ridden areas.
Senior anti-terrorist officers now suspect the dissidents are combining their involvement in the drugs "crusade" in attempts to extort a slice of the profits from the dealers.
Last night several garda units were working closely together to establish the intended target of the bomb, which was ready for use and contained in a box measuring 18 by 4 inches.
They believe the device was being delivered to the Finglas-Blanchardstown area when it was intercepted in an operation planned by the head of the Special Branch, Det Chief Philip Kelly.
The under-car bomb - which operated with a mercury tilt switch - was manufactured by a former Provisional IRA explosives expert who is now with the Real IRA and is living in Dundalk.
It was handed over in Drogheda for delivery to a gang operating in south-west Dublin and was to have been used as part of a row there involving criminals and dissidents.
The latest device could have been used in an attack on either a car or a house and contained a timer and explosive powder.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday praised the work of the gardai in risking their lives to intercept the bomb.
Ouch. I mean. Gah.
Add me to the chorus of 'I said we'd start seeing this, I said it all along', alright?
A bomb intercepted by gardai at the M50 toll bridge was linked to an extortion racket waged by the Continuity IRA against drug dealers.
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1524434&issue_id=13401
Tom Brady
Security Editor
A BOMB intercepted by gardai at the M50 toll bridge was linked to an extortion racket waged by the Continuity IRA against drug dealers.
The remnants of the lunchbox-type device were examined yesterday by garda forensic experts in a bid to identify its manufacturer.
It was made safe in a controlled explosion by an Army bomb disposal unit at the scene.
Last night the driver of the car containing the device and another man arrested in a garda swoop were being questioned at Clondalkin garda station.
They are being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which means they can be detained without charge for up to 72 hours.
The 24-year-old driver is known to gardai as a criminal suspect from the Finglas area who has been associating with members of the Continuity IRA over the past couple of years.
The bomb was found on a child's seat in the back of the Nissan Almera car when members of the Garda Special Branch and Emergency Response Unit surrounded the vehicle as it stopped at the West Link toll bridge on Thursday night.
The second suspect is a 56-year-old anti-drugs campaigner from Clondalkin and he was arrested at his home early yesterday.
The Continuity IRA has been operating an extortion racket in Dublin for several years and has mainly concentrated on pubs, clubs and other commercial premises in a bid to raise funds.
But associates of the renegade republican group have also been heavily involved more recently in campaigns against traffickers in drug-ridden areas.
Senior anti-terrorist officers now suspect the dissidents are combining their involvement in the drugs "crusade" in attempts to extort a slice of the profits from the dealers.
Last night several garda units were working closely together to establish the intended target of the bomb, which was ready for use and contained in a box measuring 18 by 4 inches.
They believe the device was being delivered to the Finglas-Blanchardstown area when it was intercepted in an operation planned by the head of the Special Branch, Det Chief Philip Kelly.
The under-car bomb - which operated with a mercury tilt switch - was manufactured by a former Provisional IRA explosives expert who is now with the Real IRA and is living in Dundalk.
It was handed over in Drogheda for delivery to a gang operating in south-west Dublin and was to have been used as part of a row there involving criminals and dissidents.
The latest device could have been used in an attack on either a car or a house and contained a timer and explosive powder.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday praised the work of the gardai in risking their lives to intercept the bomb.
Ouch. I mean. Gah.
Add me to the chorus of 'I said we'd start seeing this, I said it all along', alright?
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 09:17 pm (UTC)This is one of the reasons I visit it so rarely.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 10:59 pm (UTC)Yes, now that the "war of independence" is done, all the true criminality stands out. Nothing else to hide behind anymore.
I've added you to the chorus, all right.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 11:45 pm (UTC)Just... technically, the war of independence ended in 1921 (or was it '22? I have a cold tonight that's fuzzing with my memory) with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State.
I'm in the minority that thinks all the expressions of the IRA (not to be confused with the IRA that actually fought the war of independence, although some of its members went on to become the later, illegal IRA (declared an illegal organisation in the 1920s, as far as I recall, a period of great shame and great pride for Irish politics, made legal again with de Valera's govt. of the '30s, made illegal again - and ever after, far as I remember - during WWII), which itself is not to be confused with the Provisional IRA that arose after the civil rights movement in the north, which should probably not be confused with the Continuity and the Real IRAs - although this last is excusable *g*. There has been some continuity of members and ideology between all the groups I've named, by the way, and they all have called themselves This IRA or That IRA, so.) since then have been truly criminal.
And one could debate whether all the actions (or even most of the actions) of the original IRA conformed to the accepted practices of warfare. Since Michael Collins, one of our national heroes of the aforesaid War of Independence, commanded the counterintelligence squad, which is famous for having assassinated several British special agents - in a very well-coordinated operation - all in one night.
In retaliation the Brits drove an armoured van into Croke Park the next day, Sunday, while a Gaelic football match was in progress and fired into the crowd, killing several; that's the first Irish Bloody Sunday. But that, of course, is ancient history now.
Ahem. I just did another ranty post, didn't I? I do apologise. Irish history... well, I'm Irish, and I think it's more than slightly insane. The Irish and the IRA... it tends to set me off. Sorry :-)
(Current affairs I think are completely insane, but that's an entirely different rant, and one I shall endeavour not to subject the world to.)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-11 04:08 pm (UTC)I agree that all the "IRA" groups have not been guerilla groups but terrorists. However, for years they fooled the Irish-Americans by hiding behind the flag of "independence!!". Once the Brits wised up and started making progress on peace, then the true colors of the terrorists could shine through. The Omagh bombing was an eye-opener, and the murder of Robert McCartney was the last straw.
Still, once you've been a successful criminal organization for more than a few years, it's hard to get rid of the criminal frame of mind -- look at the Mafia. Sure they were once just poor peasants "fighting back against oppressors", but they morphed into predators of their own poor people. They moved over to North America and successfully integrated their criminal organization into our society. It's been a long haul to reduce their numbers and eliminate their appeal.
Now, the War of Independence...there, the definitions all depend on who wins. I'm sure the colonials committed atrocities against Tories in the colonies during their bid for independence, which we of course don't read about since we won. We also don't talk about the atrocities against the native American tribes. Any time you want to be severely depressed, just look at Dee Brown's book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Enough depressing thoughts for one day. If we focus on the negatives, we'll forget the positives and overlook the good things in life. Progress is being made in Ireland. The Troubles are not nearly the trouble they once were, and the IRA (all of 'em) are known by their true colours today. Croke Park has just Gaelic football games now, no Brits in armoured cars. (We were planning to go see a game, but ended up going to the greyhound races instead, and made a few good bets here and there.)
Dublin's a better city now than it was 25 years ago. Life in Ireland is better now than it was 25 years ago.
Does Trinity still have the signs on the fences saying "please don't lean bikes against the fence"?
;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-11 08:30 pm (UTC)Yes. Also 'no sports unless authorised by DUCAC' (the sports committee). Although there are bike racks around.
I've never been to Croker, me. I grew up with football England-style, hockey, and basketball - games with more than eleven players a side confuse me terribly :-).
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 01:58 am (UTC)Hockey? Not hurley? Basketball?!?!? ::Peers suspiciously at young Irish student:: What on Earth is the world coming to?
By football England-style, you mean footie? As in what we retarded USians call soccer? I noticed that Ireland isn't in the World Cup, by the by.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 01:11 pm (UTC)And hurley is for the lads. Girls play camogie. Don't ack me to explain the difference; although I'm sure there is one, I've never been able to figure it out.
Yep, soccer. Yep, basketball. Yep, soccer. It explains a lot about me, btw, if you realise I went to a small, non-denominational (mostly Proddy, as the cruder members of my family might say) mixed primary school (as opposed to the usual run of religion-ridden primary schools) - and was very much a tombay - , and then to an all-girls Catholic (formerly run by the Loreto order, though now all the staff save one are laypeople) school whose senior PE teacher played hockey for Ireland in the days of yore.
And yes, Ireland isn't in the World Cup. ::fumes:: I'm blaming it all on Roy Keane.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 03:51 pm (UTC)Roy Keane was a bad boy; I vaguely recall seeing something about him on the Beeb Online. Didn't he get in an argument with the coach or somewhat before the playoff? Got sent home?
So, who are you rooting for in place of Ireland?
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 03:56 pm (UTC)Wait..doesn't "tombé" mean "to fall"? Were you always falling out of trees and such? "The falling tomboy, or tombé, is now at the hospital, n'est-ce pas?"
;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 04:35 pm (UTC)I have decided this World Cup I am going to ignore the football madness, except for indulging in the old grudge and cheering on all the teams England plays. You know. It's fun, besides which I can't stand David Beckham.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 06:55 pm (UTC)