Receiver appointed over properties linked to alleged leading figures in Drogheda gang

The High Court has appointed a receiver over two properties in counties Cavan and Monaghan linked to two alleged leading figures in a Drogheda organised crime gang.

The vacant properties, along with vehicles, cash and a gold Rolex watch, were previously deemed to be proceeds of crime by the court.

The Criminal Assets Bureau’s (Cab) application for the orders under the 1996 Proceed of Crime Act followed an extensive Garda investigation into brothers Owen and Brendan Maguire.

The bureau alleged Owen Maguire, who was paralysed from the chest down after being shot in July 2018, jointly controls and directs the Price-Maguire organised crime group, while it said Brendan Maguire is also a senior and active member.

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The Price-Maguire group allegedly controls the distribution of controlled drugs in the east and northeast of the country, particularly in Drogheda but extending into Meath and Dublin.

Barrister Daragh Breen, for Cab, said on Wednesday that the properties at Tullynaskeagh, Co Cavan and Garran, Co Monaghan are vacant, in a state of disrepair and uninhabitable.

After viewing pictures of the properties, Mr Justice Alexander Owens said they were “uninhabited ruins, in effect”.

He appointed a receiver over the properties, giving them the power to engage auctioneers and to lodge the sale proceeds with the State. A receiver has already been appointed over 11 other assets deemed to be the proceeds of crime.

The judge placed a stay on the orders taking effect until March 2nd next. Neither of the brothers appeared in court on Wednesday or previously in relation to the matter.

The court heard last month that Brendan Maguire was served with the proceedings at an address in Rochdale, Manchester, while documents were left at an address at Cement Road, Drogheda for Owen Maguire.

‘Well-founded’

At that point, Mr Justice Owens said the bureau’s belief that each of 13 listed assets, seized during various searches of properties linked to the two men, were purchased with crime proceeds is “well-founded and well-supported by the general evidence which is a result of an impressive investigation”.

There was “no indication” as to how the brothers came to acquire such large sums of money for the joint purchase of the two properties, the judge said.

Various sums of cash, totalling €305,000, seized from properties and a holding site could also not be put down to legitimate earnings from a supposed scrap metal business and it was more probable than not that the money represented proceeds of crime, he held.

The bureau claimed the wider Price-Maguire group has been involved in several violent criminal feuds and gardaí believe some of its members were involved in murders.

The Maguires have not been charged or convicted for any of the alleged activities, but the bureau alleges they have frequently come to the attention of gardaí.