Five held in France over Real IRA links
French police have arrested five people suspected of having connections with the Real IRA.
The five suspects, all French nationals, were detained in Brittany and Normandy in northern France during raids early this morning.
They were reportedly arrested after police discovered a cache of weapons and ammunition buried in a forest on the outskirts of the coastal town of Dieppe in Normandy.
The five detainees, all believed to be from Brittany, are suspected of involvement in a support network for the dissident Irish republican group.
The Real IRA is a breakaway group from the IRA, opposed to the Northern Ireland peace process, which has been blamed for a series of attacks since in recent years, including the Omagh bombing in 1998 in which 29 people died.
French police have refused to say what charges were likely to be brought against the five and refused to confirm that they were members of the small militant group, the Breton Revolutionary Army, a supporter of terror groups, such as Spain’s ETA group.
