GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the shooting dead of convicted criminal Stephen Byrne have arrested two people.
The weekend arrests bring to five the number of people detained in relation to the murder of the 32-year-old Dubliner last Tuesday.
The men were arrested on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon at addresses in Dublin’s north inner city.
They are aged 25 years and 20 years, and were still being detained at Store Street Garda station last night.
They are being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, and can be detained for up to 72 hours without charge.
Byrne was shot dead at about 4.40pm last Tuesday at the junction of St Laurence Place East and Sheriff Street in Dublin’s north inner city.
The dead man lived at Mariner’s Port, just yards from where he was killed.
He received a phone call on Tuesday while in his house and went out to meet somebody on the street.
As he was talking to a group of people, a gunman approached on a mountain bike, shooting Byrne in the head and chest.
Those talking to Byrne fled as the gunman moved in. The killer, who used a handgun, escaped on the bike.
Last week, gardaí arrested two boys, aged 15 and 16 years, and a man in his 20s. All three were believed to have been among the group talking to Byrne just before he was shot.
They have since been released from Garda custody without charge.
Gardaí believe Byrne’s murder is linked to a gangland feud between rival factions based in the Sheriff Street area.
The dispute started nearly eight years ago when a major criminal gang split into two factions after its leader, Christie Griffin (40), originally from Canon Lillis Avenue, Dublin, was accused of rape.
To date, five men have been shot dead as part of the feud.
Byrne was a suspect for one of the earlier killings, that of Stephen Ledden (28), who was shot in a case of mistaken identity in December 2006.
The two men who were being questioned last night about Byrne’s killing were close associates of Mr Ledden.
Two of the other victims of the feud were cousins of Byrne. Gerard Batt Byrne (25) was shot in 2006, while Aiden Byrne (32) was shot in February.
Garda sources have said tensions have been running high around the Sheriff Street area since the gun attack last Tuesday.
Additional covert armed Garda patrols have been in place around Sheriff Street, and more uniformed gardaí have been drafted in in a bid to quell tensions.