GARDAÍ HAVE ARRESTED a man and seized a gun and ammunition after a planned car stop in north Co Dublin this week.

Gardaí carried out a planned car stop in Balbriggan on Monday evening as part of an operation led by the Dublin Crime Response Team to tackle serious criminal activity.

When gardaí searched the car, they found and seized a semi-automatic pistol, rounds of ammunition and €153,305 in cash.

A man in his 40s, who was the only person in the car, was arrested at the scene.

He was brought to a garda station in Dublin where he has been detained under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.

A garda statement said that several follow-up searches have taken place in Dublin city and further evidence has been recovered, without specifying the nature of the evidence.

Assistant Commissioner Cliona Richardson said that the “seizure of this firearm and ammunition has no doubt saved lives”.

She added that the “removal of significant amounts of cash not only removes ill-gotten gains from the hands from criminals, but deprives them of money they would have used to fund further criminal activity in our communities”.