Dungannon man charged after bomb find in Co Louth last year

A DUNGANNON man has appeared in court charged with allegedly helping plan a bomb discovered in Co Louth last year.

Brian Cavlan (49), of Corrainey Road, Dungannon, and co-accused Peter Granaghan (44), of Gurteen Road, Garrison, appeared via videolink from Musgrave Custody Suite to Strabane Magistrates Court today.

The pair are jointly-charged with the preparation of terrorist acts between June 3 and 8, 2024, following investigations into a high-explosive device found outside an abandoned nightclub in Co Louth on June 8.

Emmett Maguire (43), of Station Road, and Rory Logan (44), of Ross Close, Enniskillen, are separately charged with transporting the bomb from a graveyard in Cavan to the Louth site.

A police detective sergeant told the court that, four days earlier, Cavlan and Granaghan were allegedly seen driving Logan’s Land Rover from a shop in Belleek to the Cavan graveyard.

CCTV footage, Automatic Number-Plate Recognition (ANPR), and sat nav data reportedly showed the three men travelling to the site.

Police believe this may have been to show Logan where to collect the bomb, forming the basis of the preparation charges.

The sergeant said investigators are relying on ‘multiple strands’ of circumstantial evidence, including meetings between the accused, anti-surveillance movements, and intelligence collected by the Gardai.

He added that Cavlan and Granaghan were considered ‘trusted’ by senior IRA leadership regarding information on the bomb’s location.

During two seven-and-a-half-hour interviews, both defendants reportedly remained silent.

Defence counsel Kelly Doherty, representing Cavlan, questioned whether the bomb was at the graveyard on June 4, which police could not confirm, but believed it was collected on June 8.

Granaghan’s counsel, Sophie McClintock, highlighted the absence of CCTV on June 4 and questioned the precision of RF and sat nav data, which police said placed the defendants within 800 metres of the graveyard.

District Judge Alana McSorley ruled there was ‘reasonable suspicion’ connecting the men to the charges.

No bail applications were made, and both were remanded in custody to appear at Omagh Magistrates Court on November 4 for an update.