Second man pleads guilty to explosives possession
A second man arrested after a major Garda operation pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today to having a massive quantity of explosives near the border last year.
Seamus McKenna (aged 49) of Marian Park, Dundalk, Co Louth, admitted the possession of an explosive substance - ammonium nitrate and sugar (ANS) - at Thornfield, Inniskeen, Co Louth, with intent to endanger life on June 13 last year.
When the trial resumed today Mr McKenna's counsel Mr Niall Durnin SC asked for his client to be rearraigned. Mr McKenna then pleaded guilty to the offence and was remanded in custody until November 3.
Yesterday, Gregory Trainor (aged 38) of Culdee Road, Armagh, admitted the same charge after originally pleading not guilty to the offence on Tuesday.
The court has heard that Mr Trainor and Mr McKenna were among four men arrested after a major Garda operation led to the discovery of a large quantity of home-made explosives near the border last year.
Gardaí caught Mr McKenna and Mr Trainor in the act of manufacturing the explosives using a cement mixer when they entered a farmyard in Co Louth, the court was told.
Prosecuting counsel, Mr George Birmingham SC, said that gardaí found a large canvas bag containing 1100lb of the home-made explosives - a mixture of ammonium nitrate and sugar - in a stolen van beside the cement mixer.
Mr Birmingham said that in June last year a major Garda operation took place in north Co Louth involving the Emergency Response Unit, the Special Detective Unit, the Crime and Security Branch and local gardaí, under the command of Assistant Commissioner Rice assisted by other senior officers.
The operation culminated on June 13, when gardaí entered a farmyard and shed and found two men, Mr McKenna and Mr Trainor, in the course of manufacturing a bomb.
Counsel said that a number of gardaí, led by Detective Inspector John Gantley of the ERU, entered the yard at 1.35pm and found Mr McKenna and Mr Trainor engaged in making explosives. There was an electrically-powered cement mixer and buckets and a shovel in the yard.
The trial of two other men who have pleaded not guilty to the unlawful possession of the explosives and having them with intent to endanger life is continuing.
They are Joseph Fee(aged 40) of Blackstaff, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, and Eamonn Matthews (aged 25) of Dublin Road, Killeen, Newry, Co Down.
