Two men who were brought in for questioning by gardai in relation to the seizure of nearly 18kg of industrial explosives in Oranmore last weekend have been released without charge and a file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
A third man, Oliver Mannion, was charged and brought before Galway District Court where he was refused bail and remanded in custody to appear again at Harristown District Court tomorrow.
In total five people, all aged between 25 and 33, were arrested and taken into custody after gardai from the Galway West Division, the National Surveillance Unit, and the Emergency Response Unit seized 17.5kgs of industrial explosives in the Rinville area of Oranmore at around 2pm last Saturday. A quantity of explosives was found in the boot of a car while a larger amount was found during a search of a house.
Four men and one woman were arrested in Oranmore and Headford following the find and were detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939. The woman and one man were released on Sunday and Monday respectively and a file is being prepared for the DPP.
In the case of two other men, Detective Supt PJ Durkan made an application to extend time for questioning by a further 24 hours at Galway District Court at around 12.30pm last Monday.By lunchtime on Tuesday the two men were released without charge.
Only one of the men arrested has so far been charged with an offence following intense investigation. Mannion (30 ) with an address at Rinville West, Oranmore, was brought before Judge Mary Fahy last Monday charged with the alleged unlawful possession of industrial explosives at Rinville West, Oranmore, on September 6 2008, contrary to Section 4 of the Explosives Substances Act, 1997.
Garda Paudie O’Shea told the court that when Mannion was charged last Monday afternoon his reply was “no comment”.
Defence solicitor Mr Geroid Geraghty immediately made an application for bail for his client who he said was an unemployed single man who lived locally with his parents.
Garda O’Shea told Judge Fahy that the grounds for the State’s objection to bail was due to the “seriousness” of the offence as there was a “large amount of industrial explosives” and that the “evidence was strong”. Garda O’Shea added because there was a substantial sentence attached to the offence it was believed that the defendant may not remain in the state.
Mr Geraghty offered for his client to surrender his passport and undertake to abide by strict conditions set by the court in order to alleviate Garda concerns.
Noting that the defendant had no wife or children, and “no real commitment to his parents”, Judge Fahy refused bail “due to the seriousness of the charge”. Mannion was remanded in custody to appear before Harristown District Court on Friday September 12.
