Ammunition find buried by IRA two decades ago
**Via Newshound
8 June 2006
A CACHE of 10,000 rounds of high velocity rifle ammunition discovered in a wood was buried there by the IRA two decades ago.
The ammunition found in Sligo is thought to have been part of the massive shipments of arms, ammunition and explosives, imported by the IRA from Libya in the mid-1980s.
Nationwide search
Some of the IRA arsenal was moved hurriedly by local Provisionals after the Gardai launched Operation Mallard, a nationwide search for the guns and bombs, following the interception of a fifth gun running ship in October 1987.
The haul of ammunition is believed to have been shifted from an IRA dump to avoid detection during the searches.
The ammunition was found by a local man on an embankment in a remote wooded area over a mile from Cliffony, in the shadow of Ben Bulben mountain.
The man, who had been involved in clearance work in the area, alerted the Gardai and the bullets, typically used in high velocity rifles, were photographed and taken under escort to Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park in Dublin for ballistic and fingerprint analysis.
Further searches were carried out in the area but nothing else was found.
Gardai confirmed last night that the find bore all the hallmarks of a Provisional IRA arms dump which had probably been established in the 1980s and forgotten since.
The ammunition had been concealed in a Wavin-type pipe which had been sealed with tar onboth ends.
Four shipments
The IRA brought in four shipments of arms and explosives from Libya in 1985 and 1986. The shipments were landed at Clogga Strand, near Arklow, and then transferred to a network of hides across the country.
But Gardai did not become aware of the shipments until an investigation was carried out by the then head of the crime and security branch, Assistant Commissioner Eugene Crowley, after the interception of the Eksund off the French coast the following year.
Anita Guidera and Tom Brady
