Police in Northern Ireland have been given extra time to question seven people arrested during a major operation against the Continuity IRA (CIRA).
The men are among 12 people detained after an armed raid on a house in Newry, close to the Irish border in South Armagh, on Monday night. Five were later released but the PSNI is questioning the remaining seven at its serious crime suite in Antrim Town.
The men being questioned are aged between 36 and 75 and include one man suspected of playing a central role in the Omagh bomb plot, the biggest single massacre of the Troubles.
The five released – aged 36, 38, 44, 45 and 48 – have been freed pending a report to Northern Ireland’s public prosecution service.
During the operation armed officers in body armour surrounded the house in the Ardcarn Park area. Helicopters were also deployed.
The CIRA is the oldest of the three main republican groups opposed to the peace process and the power-sharing settlement in Northern Ireland.
It is linked to Republican Sinn Féin, its political allies, which grew out of a split within Sinn Féin when a large majority of the party voted to end its boycott of the Republic of Ireland’s parliament in 1986.
The group has a base in North Armagh and also along the border near Newry. It was responsible for the murder of constable Stephen Carroll, the first PSNI member to die at the hands of paramilitaries.
