A man and woman have been charged after Irish police stopped a vehicle and seized what authorities described as a significant explosive device apparently destined for Northern Ireland, the site of decades of violence that largely ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
Members of An Garda Síochána’s Special Detective Unit stopped the vehicle on the N2 south of Carrickmacross at about 3 p.m. on July 22. Police requested assistance from an Irish Defence Forces explosive ordnance disposal team, which examined the vehicle.
Authorities initially declined to release the examination’s findings for operational reasons. Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly later confirmed that investigators had recovered an explosive device.
Belfast Live reported that the device contained suspected military-grade explosives. Garda sources described it as highly sophisticated and advanced.
The vehicle’s driver, a woman in her 20s, was arrested under the Offences Against the State Act. She was later charged and ordered to appear before a special sitting of Trim District Court on July 24.
A man in his 40s was subsequently arrested in connection with the investigation and detained at a Garda station in the Dublin region. He was later charged and scheduled to appear before the Special Criminal Court at the Criminal Courts of Justice on July 25.
Authorities have not released the suspects’ names, the charges they face or additional details about the device. The investigation remains ongoing.
