Anti-Queen banner publican arrested - suspected connection to dissident republicans

Three people have been arrested after ammunition was seized in a pub in Fairview, Dublin. This is the same pub where the courts had ordered a 40-foot banner barring the Queen to be removed just last month.

The owner of the pub, John Stokes, father of Celtic player Anthony Stokes, was among those arrested. Last month Stokes had been ordered by the courts to remove a 40-foot banner which barred Queen Elizabeth from the Player's Lounge pub in North Dublin. He was ordered by the courts not to erect another sign.

The Irish Independent reports that at 10am the police raided the bar as part of an operation targeting dissident republicans and organized crime in Ireland's capital city. The police found a handful of bullets in the shed at the back of the pub. Stokes was arrested at the scene. Cocaine with a street value of over $500 was also found in the pub.

Other private houses were also searched in Donaghmede, another suburb in north Dublin. The searches involved more than 100 officers including the special detective's unit.

A man and a woman were also arrested. All three are now being help under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

The raids are thought to be in connection to a long-running turf war between the IRA and local drug gangs. They are battling for supremacy in pubs and clubs in the city.

Last summer three men, a doorman and two customers, were shot outside Stoke's bar, Players Lounge.

On Wednesday Queen Elizabeth II confirmed that she would visit Ireland from May 17 to 20. She plans to take in some historical site including Croke Park, the scene of a massacre by British troops, and Dublin's Garden of Remembrance, which honor those who fought for Irish freedom.