Gardaí believe a pipe bomb carried into a Garda station by a member of the public had been placed outside the house of a man involved in a criminal feud.
However, when one of the intended target's neighbours saw the device outside his house he picked it up and brought it into Finglas Garda station.
The man, who is not involved in crime, forced the evacuation of Finglas Garda station in north Dublin on Tuesday.
All of the Garda and civilian personnel were cleared from the station in a full security alert that began just after 3pm.
The Army’s bomb disposal experts were called in, arriving at 3.40pm and having made the scene safe by 5pm. The device was taken away for further analysis.
A cordon was placed around the Garda station and traffic diversions put in place as part of the exclusion zone around the station.
The Garda said an investigation was underway into the origins of the device. And a scene in Finglas west has been examined.
The pipe bomb was found outside the home of a man who has previously been targeted by a family based crime gang, also from Finglas.
Gardaí believe the device was placed there as part of that ongoing dispute.
