A sub-machine gun was found in a bag on a Dublin street.iStock/Artfully79

Irish police lost one of their sub-machine guns in Dublin city center. It was returned by an woman, who traveled on public transport with it, on the very afternoon Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived in Ireland.

An investigation is currently being led by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), who are looking into the incident, which involved an Irish police officer's sub-machine gun being found and returned by a member of the public.

The woman picked up a bag containing the gun and held onto it for 25 minutes prior to handing it over to the Store Street Garda Station. The GSOC has described the investigation as a matter of “public interest inquiry”.

“The Commission is concerned about the reports in the media and the apparent lack of security that these reports suggest,” the GSOC said in a statement.

“The Commission is of the view that an independent investigation is necessary to ensure public confidence in the civilian oversight of policing in a time of increased armed gardai in Dublin city in particular.”

Officers from the Garda anti-terrorism unit conducted an extensive search of Dublin City Center to find the gun, as well as the large amount of ammunition that fell out of the back of one of their vehicles.

The vehicle in question is an Audi A6 estate, which was one of three cars in a convoy leaving the Garda regional headquarters in Dublin at Harcourt Square. As the Audi had pulled up into heavy traffic, two of the emergency response units found that the back of the car had been opened.

Officers at the time spotted the woman picking up the weapon, but managed to lose her as she disappeared.

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