An arsenal of explosive devices discovered in Northern Ireland is believed to be linked to far-right terrorism, police have said.
The stash of 17 improvised explosive devices and other material was found during searches in the Shankill Road area of Belfast on 30 and 31 October.
“The investigation is linked to extreme rightwing terrorism. There is nothing further at this time,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland said on Wednesday.
It was the largest haul of weaponry linked to the far right ever seized in Northern Ireland, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
The explosive devices were found with two detonators and five stun guns during a search and security operation. One man was arrested.
Wesley Thomas Fletcher, 35, of Leopold Street, appeared at Belfast magistrates court on Monday to face two charges of possession of explosives under suspicious circumstances and one charge of possession of a prohibited weapon, a Taser.
When asked if he understood the charges, Fletcher replied “Yes”. No application for bail was made and he was remanded in custody with the next hearing scheduled for 30 November.
The discovery of the arsenal comes amid growing alarm about race hate incidents and attacks on immigrants in Northern Ireland.
Loyalist bonfires have used effigies of mosques and migrants and self-styled vigilante patrols have stopped and interrogated dark-skinned men. Individuals linked to paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force are believed to be involved in many of the incidents.
Riots over three consecutive summers have forged connections between loyalists and far-right agitators in Britain, with some crossing the Irish Sea to be at flashpoints in Belfast and other towns.
Claire Hanna, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party, told an audience at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, US, on 12 October that Northern Ireland was “becoming a Disneyland for the far right”.
Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International UK’s head of nations and regions, said the discovery of explosives and firearms apparently linked to the far right was shocking but not unsurprising.
“Northern Ireland has already endured years of escalating racist violence, with devastating human costs – children going to school frightened, families afraid to leave their homes, and entire communities living in a climate of fear and intimidation,” he added.
“This police investigation suggests far-right extremists may now be seeking to take that violence to an even more terrifying level. Just last month, MI5 warned that rightwing extremists ‘are tipping into terrorist intent’ such as planning attacks on migrants and Muslims. This find in Belfast points to a threat that does not lie in the future, but is a clear and present danger.”
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