Dublin swoop nets gear linked to Neave killing

Press, 9 April 1979, Page 9

Dublin swoop nets gear linked to Neave killing

NZPA London A raid on a Dublin flat rt the week-end may prove to ' be a vital link in the in- ' vestigauon into the murder . of Airey Neave, the Tory ’ member of Parliament who , was blown up in his car on . March 30. Special Branch detectives j arrested five men and found : explosives similar to those ! used in the killing of Mr ’ Neave. The five men in their . early twenties, who are ! thought to be members of j the Irish Republican Social- 1 ist Party, were found in the . flat. A police spokesman con- ! firmed that they had been arrested under section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, — the anti-terror- . ist section under which sus- j pects can be held for 48 hours. . A huge supply of bomb- ! making equipment was ; found under the floor boards j of the rented flat which had been under close surveil- . lance by detectives for some * time. * According to detectives, , this equipment was identical ! to the type used in the kill- , ing of Mr Neave. The Irish National Liberation Army, which admitted | the killing, is thought to be the military wing of I.R.S.P. It is believed that the raid was made after a tip from 1 Scotland Yard. 1

Earlier, the Irish National Liberation Army had been quoted as saying it would make no more attacks on British politicians before the General Election on May 3. In an interview in the Dublin monthly magazine, “Magill,” the alleged chief of staff of the Irish National Liberation Army, was quoted as saying: “Airey Neave was our sole target at this time.” The attack prompted intensive security precautions for top politicians during the approaching election campaign. The Irish National Liberaation Army — a Marxist group long overshadowed by the provisional Irish Republican Army, the main guerrilla force fighting British rule in Northern Ireland — said it had sent a “unit” to London for the attack. “Magill” quoted the unnamed chief of staff, a Northern Ireland man, as saying “we felt it was time the Westminster armchair militarists suffered directly the consequences of their policies.” The intention of the Liberation Army was now to “mark time on the British front” he added. The Tory leader, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, read one of the lessons at the funeral in rural Oxfordshire on Friday of Mr Neave, her friend and political adviser.