Gardai are questioning a man after officers seized these two deadly handguns – being transported on an illegal scrambler that they stopped under Grace’s Law.
The seizure of the two Slovakian-made Grand Power pistols was made by officers on patrol in Co Kildare on Wednesday evening.
It was part of Operation Twin Tracks, a Garda crackdown on anti social behaviour on public transport. Officers from the Kildare North Community Engagement Team, backed up by detectives form the Kildare North Crime team, were carrying out patrols on the Royal Canal Way in Maynooth when they spotted the scrambler.
The use of scramblers in public areas was banned just over a month ago following the death in January of 16-year-old Grace Lynch in Finglas, north Dublin, when she was struck by such a vehicle and gardai have been enforcing the new law ever since.
The new law gives officers the power to stop and seize such vehicles.
Grace Lynch, 16, who was killed by a scrambler bike in Finglas, north Dublin in January. Officers now have powers to stop and seize scramblers under a law named after the teenager.
Officers stopped the rider, who is a man in his 30s and from west Dublin, and discovered the two pistols, as well as almost 40 rounds of ammunition.
The suspect was arrested and was still in custody on Thursday. He can be held for up to three days. Gardai are now trying to establish why he was moving the guns – and if they were to be used in a gangland hit.
Sources have told us that the suspect is known to gardai. He was one of a number of men arrested in Dublin in recent years when armed gardai swooped on a car in which a man from Northern Ireland had been abducted.
He was kidnapped in Belfast and the PSNI alerted gardai after receiving intelligence the car used to abduct him had been taken across the border.
Gardai mounted a major operation and stopped the car on a major motorway – rescuing the victim and arresting four men.
Officers also seized a gun in that operation. Nobody was charged in the Republic over the incident. Gardai confirmed the Maynooth seizure in a statement on Thursday.
The force said: “As part of Operation Twin Tracks, Gardaí from the Kildare North Community Engagement, supported by detectives from Kildare North Crime, conducted a proactive patrols on the Royal Canal Way in Maynooth on Wednesday evening, 6th May 2026.
“During the operation, Gardaí intercepted a scrambler bike, resulting in the seizure of two semi-automatic pistols and 39 rounds of ammunition.
“The rider, a man in his 30s, was arrested at the scene and is currently being detained at a Garda station in County Kildare under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939.
“All seized firearms are undergoing technical and ballistic examination. Investigations are ongoing and further updates will be provided in due course.”
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