A suspected mortar tube and a "substantial quantity of ammunition" have been recovered by police close to the Irish border in County Louth.

Gardaí (Irish police) and the Irish army are taking part in the searches on lands near the village of Omeath on the Cooley peninsula.

In a statement, the Gardaí said the operation is "targeting the activities of dissident republican groups".

The searches began on Friday morning. No arrests have been made as yet.

The operation is being led by Garda Special Detective and Emergency Response Units.

Irish army explosives experts are also involved and a safety cordon is in place.

Searches are expected to continue into Saturday.

The suspected mortar tube will be examined by Garda ballistics experts.

Irish national broadcaster RTÉ reported that the haul is being described as "significant". </s> Searches are resuming in County Louth this morning as part of an operation targeting dissident Republican groups.

Yesterday a large quantity of ammunition and a mortar tube were discovered on land close to the village of Omeath.

Members of the Garda Special Detective and Emergency Response Units were involved in the operation.

At one point, the army bomb disposal team were called in to assist.

No one has been arrested in connection with the discovery at this time, however Gardaí say that investigations are ongoing. </s> Around a thousand rounds of ammunition and a mortar tube were discovered in two hides about six kilometres from Omeath, Co Louth, today.

Around a thousand rounds of ammunition and a mortar tube were discovered in two hides about six kilometres from Omeath, Co Louth, today.

A thousand rounds of ammunition and mortar tube discovered buried in Louth

The assorted ammunition was for use in small arms and semi automatic rifles. They were concealed in lunch boxes stashed into a barrel, which had been buried in the ground.

The empty mortar tube was found wrapped in plastic in a separate hide nearby.

The finds were made in a wood, about a kilometre off the Omeath to Flagstaff road.

The discoveries followed a big search operation by gardai, with the aid of a digger, as a result of intelligence gathering by officers.

Local garda personnel from the Louth division were backed up by anti terrorist officers from the Special Branch and the Emergency Response Unit. </s> Image copyright An Garda Síochána Image caption A photo of the search operation was released by Gardaí (Irish police)

A suspected mortar tube and a "substantial quantity of ammunition" have been recovered by police close to the Irish border in County Louth.

Gardaí (Irish police) and the Irish army searched land near the village of Omeath on the Cooley peninsula.

In a statement, the Gardaí said the operation was "targeting the activities of dissident republican groups".

The searches began on Friday morning and ended on Saturday. No arrests have been made.

The operation was led by Garda Special Detective and Emergency Response Units.

Irish army explosives experts were also involved.

The suspected mortar tube will be examined by Garda ballistics experts.

Irish national broadcaster RTÉ reported that the haul is being described as "significant". </s> Weapons and ammunition have been found during a day-long search in County Louth.

Gardai, targeting dissident Republican groups, are still searching sites near Omeath on the Cooley peninsula.

So far, they have found a substantial amount of ammunition and a mortar tube.

The army bomb squad is at the scene, which is sealed off.

No arrests have been made, and Gardai say the operation continues to be live. </s> Update: Gardaí have seized "a substantial quantity of ammunition" and a mortar tube in an operation investigating dissident Republican groups in Co Louth.

Officers started the search this morning near Omeath on the Cooley peninsula.

Gardaí said they "have recovered a substantial quantity of ammunition of varied calibre along with a mortar tube".

Gardaí at the search operation in Omeath. Pic: Garda Press Office

The Army Bomb Disposal team are at the site and a cordon is in place, with the search expected to continue into tomorrow.

No arrests have been made.

Earlier: 'Significant' Garda operation believed to have unearthed weapons in Louth

Gardaí are believed to have found what could be weapons, possibly belonging to dissident republicans, in what is being described as a "significant" operation.

Gardaí have requested the Army Bomb Disposal team to attend the scene of the search in the Cooley Peninsula area of Co. Louth.

The operation is understood to be in the general area of Omeath

Gardaí say the operation is live and ongoing and involves the Special Detective Unit. Among other things, it is responsible for investigating threats to State security.

No other details are available at the moment. </s> DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish police seized a substantial quantity of firearms and a suspected explosive device near the border with Northern Ireland on Friday as part of an investigation into the activities of militant Irish nationalist groups there.

The searches took place near the County Louth village of Omeath, which lies on a small peninsula separating part of the border between European Union-member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

The currently seamless border will become the United Kingdom’s only land frontier with the EU when it leaves the bloc, scheduled for the end of March.

Police on both sides have warned that any hardening of the border as a result of Brexit, with the potential return of customs posts, could be a target for the small number of militant groups still active in Northern Ireland after a 1998 peace deal ended three decades of violence in the province.

“During the searches to date Gardaí (Irish police) have recovered a substantial quantity of ammunition of varied caliber along with a mortar tube (pending examination by Garda ballistics experts),” the police said in a statement.

The recovery of the ammunition was part of ongoing police investigations targeting militant groups based in the area. The army’s bomb disposal unit was assisting at the scene, the statement added.

A militant group calling itself the “IRA” said this week it was responsible for a car bomb which detonated outside a court house in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry in January, highlighting the threat still posed by groups opposed to the peace agreement.

No one was injured in the blast, which the group said was not linked to Brexit. </s> Gardai have recovered a "substantial amount of ammunition" along with a mortar tube during searches of the Cooley Peninsula in Co. Louth.

Detectives and members of the Emergency Response Unit are currently carrying out a live operation in the area as part of an investigation targeting the activities of dissident Republican groups.

A statement from gardai said: "As part of the investigation a search operation commenced this morning (1/02/2019) on lands near Omeath on the Cooley peninsula.

"During the searches to date Gardaí have recovered a substantial quantity of ammunition of varied calibre along with a mortar tube (pending examination by Garda ballistics experts).

"Army EOD are currently assisting at the site and a cordon is currently in place. The search is expected to continue into tomorrow.

"The operation is being led by members of the Garda Special Detective and Emergency Response Units. No arrests have been made at this time."

The New IRA are an off shoot and amalgamation of other dissident terror groups opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.

In a statement provided to local paper the Derry Journal, the group said it placed the car bomb which detonated in Bishop Street shortly after 8.10pm on January 19.

That attack was claimed by a group styling itself "The IRA".

The New IRA is led by a notorious bomber who has carried out atrocities over decades.

Sources have said that he has come to attention of security forces again and is planning a new campaign. </s> A security alert at a Border village has ended after a controlled explosion on a suspicious object.

The object was found to be “nothing untoward”, said the Police Service of Northern Ireland, after an operation saw the closure of Main Street in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh.

A number of homes and businesses were evacuated during the alert which lasted a number of hours.

Several road diversions in the area, including on the main cross-border road from Cavan to Enniskillen, have been lifted.

Chief Inspector Graham Dodds said army bomb experts examined the object following a controlled explosion on Saturday afternoon.
Ammunition and a mortar tube was found at the Irish border in County Louth.