Ramming 'was not a keystone cops operation'
A Special Branch detective today denied that anti-terrorist detectives who rammed a car carrying explosive substances were engaged in a "keystone cops" operation.
Detective Garda Fergal Dardis, Special Detective Unit, told the Special Criminal Court that he was one of a team of detectives who travelled from Dublin to Dundalk on 9 June 2001 to monitor the activities of dissident republicans.
Two carloads of armed gardai were positioned in the railway station at Dundalk watching passengers getting off the Dublin train at 10.35am.
The witness said he saw two men who were known to the gardai, one of whom was carrying a blue Nike sports bag, walking directly to a parked silver Toyota car and getting inside.
As the Toyota pulled off towards the town of Dundalk, the gardai turned on the sirens and flashed the car to stop but the driver accelerated.
Det. Dardis told the court he forced it to stop by striking it from the rear and pinning it against the footpath. The accused and the other two men, not before the court, were arrested.
When gardai opened the Nike sports bag, they found a time and power unit hidden inside. Two balaclavas and cotton-type gloves were also found in the car.
Det. Dardis identified the driver of the car as the accused, Darren O'Donogh.
Mr O'Donogh (aged 23) of Glenmore Park, Muirhevnamore, Dundalk has pleaded not guilty to the unlawful possession of an explosive substance - one improvised timing power unit - at McEntee Avenue, in the townland of Demesne, Dundalk on 9 June 2001.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Martin Giblin SC, the witness said he made the decision to forcibly stop the car "as quickly as possible" before it entered Dundalk town, as the gardai believed there were explosives on board.
Counsel suggested that allowing "a potential bomb out onto the public highway" appeared to be a "keystone cops operation" and further suggested that the car could have been prevented from leaving the railway station.
The witness said the car was stopped in a "controlled manoeuvre" and denied that the operation was ill thought-out.
When the accused refused to get out of the car, Det. Dardis said he drew his gun and put his boot through the driver's window. He and a colleague pulled the accused from the car and placed him on the ground.
