Three questioned by Garda over Lunney abduction released

Three people arrested over the abduction and torture of Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) executive Kevin Lunney two months ago have been released without charge.

Two men, in their 20s and 40s, and a woman in her 50s had been held at Kells, Cavan and Monaghan Garda stations.

They were released in the early hours of Saturday morning and a file will now be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions and gardaí say investigations are ongoing.

The men had been detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, which is used to question suspected gang members and allows their detention without charge for up to seven days.

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The woman was detained under Section 30 of Offences Against the State Act. The woman and the younger man are related to a man who has not been arrested but is regarded as a chief suspect in the attack on Mr Lunney.

The chief suspect was a close associate of Cyril “Dublin Jimmy” McGuinness who died last Friday week when a safe house in Buxton, Derbyshire was raided by local police on behalf of the PSNI investigating the attack on Mr Lunney. McGuinness suffered a suspected heart attack.

Gardaí believe the younger man who had been in custody was influenced by the older chief suspect into playing a part in the clean-up operation that followed the beating of Mr Lunney in September.

The arrests had been the first since people involved in the acquisition and management of assets formerly owned by Sean Quinn began being targeted with threats and violence in 2011.

Since late 2014, when Mr Lunney and his colleagues gained control of QIH, with US investment, they have been targeted by criminal elements.

However, the abduction and beating of Mr Lunney in the Fermanagh-Cavan area on September 17th represented a serious escalation into the campaign of violence against the QIH executives.

Mr Quinn has repeatedly condemned the violence.