Thomas Bates found guilty of explosives conspiracy

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Thomas Bates was found guilty by a jury at Clonmel Circuit Court of three charges of conspiring to possess a firearm, an explosive substance and ammunition. The offences took place within the State between 24 October and 10 November 2017.

He was found not guilty of possessing ammunition on 10 November 2017. Bates was remanded in custody and was due to be sentenced in July. The proceedings were reported on 30 May 2019.

The convictions followed a joint FBI and Garda operation after an unknown person using the online name Snow4 attempted to buy illegal items on the darknet. The report said Bates was not Snow4.

Another accused, Nigel Gartland, was found not guilty by direction of Judge Thomas Teehan.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.