Ireland releases 8 held in terror sweep

By the CNN Wire Staff

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Police say searches turn up a pipe bomb, ammunition and explosives
2 men are charged with terror-related offenses
A total of 10 people were arrested Friday and Saturday

RELATED TOPICS

(CNN) -- Seven men and a woman arrested as part of an anti-terror sweep in Ireland have been released without charge, Irish police said Monday.

Two other men have been charged and appeared in court Sunday, Irish police said.

Nicholas Kendall of Wexford was charged with unlawful possession of a semi-automatic pistol, ammunition and a bomb part, authorities said. The other man, Peter Butterly, 33, of Cortown, was charged with being a member of the Irish Republican Army.

The bomb part was a timing power unit that could be used in an improvised explosive device, the Special Criminal Court heard. Detectives told the court both men refused to comment when the charges were put to them. The two were remanded into custody and are set to appear in court again on Tuesday.

The arrests of the nine men on Friday and the woman on Saturday came in several locations in Ireland, including County Louth, which includes Cortown, just south of the border with Northern Ireland.

They were held under the Irish Republic's Offences Against the State anti-terrorism legislation. Irish law allows terror suspects to be held for up to three days without charge.

The Irish Republican Army, also called the IRA, fought a bloody campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland for decades before starting a process of decommissioning nine years ago.

Those who refused to accept the Good Friday Agreement that led to the decommissioning are known as dissident republicans.

The country's top police officer said Monday authorities are continuing to conduct operations meant to disrupt dissident IRA activity. Officers reported recovering a machine gun, a shotgun, a pipe bomb, assorted ammunition, bomb-making equipment and explosives in searches carried out in the Louth and Meath areas earlier in the day.

"This find represents a further step in our determined strategy to target, disrupt and detect the activities of dissident republicans," said the head of Irish police, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy. "Our objective is to stop them in their tracks and secure evidence to put them before the courts."

Journalist Peter Taggart contributed to this report.