GARDAÍ BELIEVE Wanden (45) was the Rib expert in the drugs smuggling gang and it was he who ordered the 7.8 Ballistic Rib from a company in South Africa where he moved in 2003 with his wife Sonya and their young daughter.
Originally from Swanley, Kent, Wanden served his apprenticeship as a bricklayer when he became friendly with Joe and Michael Daly's other brother, Stephen, and went to work for a local builder, Ronald Barefoot, who described him as being like a son.
However, Wanden was already falling foul of the law, securing his first conviction in 1980 for a public order offence. He was later convicted of burglary and theft, fraud, criminal damage and handling stolen property.
In June 2003, he was convicted and sentenced in his absence in Boulogne sur Mer in France to two years in jail for possessing, transporting and smuggling drugs and violent absconding when he knocked down a prison officer while fleeing custody.
Wanden has been in custody since last July.The South African Asset Forfeiture Unit seized his 4.4million rand (€370,000) luxury home at Llandudno in Hout Bay, Cape Town, as well as a Range Rover, leisure boat and bank accounts.