Anti-terror gardai have arrested a major dissident suspect they believe is linked to a two week security alert across the border.
Elite officers from the Special Detective Unit (SDU) swooped today on a 45-year-old from the border region.
Gardai say he is a senior dissident republican and is understood to be connected to a home-made bomb left in the Wattlebridge area of Co Fermanagh.
He was lifted after a joint Garda-PSNI joint security operation following the discovery of a suspicious device left at a bus shelter.
The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was discovered on Jan 13 led to a two week long alert as heavily armed PSNI and British soldiers flooded the area.
It later turned out to be a hoax. The British Army carried out a controlled explosion. Live ammunition was recovered from the area.
The renegade CIRA claimed they opened fire on a police helicopter the evening after the device was found - but it turned out they had targeted a privately owned chopper. The aircraft was not damaged and those on board were not aware they were being fired on.
In a statement the CIRA said they had tried to draw officers to the location for a gun attack.
SDU detectives are quizzing the suspect at Cavan Garda Station. He is being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
A source said: “It was a great bit of detective work to get this man. It is a good result for the gardai and for their colleagues across the border.
“Gardai are continuing to crack down on dissident republican activity along the border and will not let up.”
The suspect is being quizzed about the hoax device and about membership of an illegal organisation.
