The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) seized almost €400,000 in cash owned by a member of one of Limerick's feuding gangs, which was being stored with drugs valued at up to €1 million.
The money was found on a farm owned by Brendan Murphy (52), Brickanagh, Cloughjordan, Co Offaly, when gardaí raided it in February 2004.
During the same search the Garda team also found 50kg of amphetamines, with an estimated street value of between €750,000 and €1 million.
Cab began a major investigation into Murphy and the origins of the money and the drugs. Intelligence emerged that the money was owned by Limerick criminal Danny Power whom gardaí believe has links to the gang once headed by the Keane brothers, Kieran and Christy.
Kieran Keane was murdered in January 2003 as part of the city's gangland feud. Christy Keane is serving a 10-year term for possession of cannabis.
Power (50), with an address at Ashe Ave, John Carew Park, Limerick, is serving a six-year term for criminal damage and is not due for release until next August. He was jailed after trying to break into a Limerick bank in 2004.
The High Court heard affidavit evidence from Cab yesterday that Power was contacted by the State because he had been linked to the money found on the Offaly farm in 2004. He had never replied to correspondence from the chief State solicitor's office.
Murphy made no legal challenge to efforts by Cab to confiscate the largest sum, of €391,000, found on his farm during the 2004 search.
However, he did contest the seizing of the two smaller batches. One sum of €46,300 was found concealed wrapped in plastic in the engine of a vehicle on the property. Another sum of €8,000 in coins was found placed in a barrel.
The money seized will now be transferred to State coffers by the bureau chief legal officer Frank Cassidy. The case was led by the head of Cab, Det Chief Supt John O'Mahoney.
The Irish Times has established that Brendan Murphy has a drugs conviction dating back to 1997. He was given a five-year prison term, all of which was suspended.
Gardaí sought to prosecute him in relation to the amphetamines found on his farm in 2004.
However, while the prosecution was begun the search warrants under which the drugs were seized were found to be unsafe and the case was discontinued in early 2004.