Three men who formed part of a terrorist group that plotted to blow up a mosque in Galway have been jailed at a court in Dublin.
Judge Caroline Biggs, presiding over the three-judge Special Criminal Court, sentenced Garrett Pollock to 10 years and six months with the final year to be suspended. His co-defendants, Darren Gorman and Karolis Peckauskas, were both jailed for eight years with the final year to be suspended.
Guilty pleas entered earlier this year
Pollock, 36, of Kilhorne Green, Annalong, Co Down, Gorman, 35, of O’Moore Place, Portlaoise, Co Laois, and Peckauskas, 39, of Newfoundwell Road, Drogheda, Co Louth, all entered guilty pleas before Dublin’s Special Criminal Court earlier this year.
They admitted to attempting to engage in a terrorist activity, to firebomb the Maryam Mosque on the Monivea Road in Galway between November 4 and 5 last year, an offence which was “aggravated by hatred”.
Explosive substance charge
Pollock also pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive substance under suspicious circumstances, which was found in a glass jar with a metal lid, a cloth fuse, matches and tape, in addition to liquids and white clumped powders all containing hydrocarbon fire accelerants, namely petrol.
An Garda Síochána and the PSNI had co-operated on a probe into an alleged plot by a group styling itself as the Irish Defence Army (IDA) to attack the mosque.
Imminent attack feared
Gardaí previously told the court that they believed an attack on the Galway mosque was “imminent” and had seized a “manifesto document outlining an intention to attack” the first mosque in Ireland.
