Kevin Lunney attack: investigating gardaí given ‘every resource’

The full weight of the Garda Síochána and its specialist units have been placed at the disposal of gardaí in Cavan investigating the kidnapping and torturing of the Quinn Industries Holdings (QIH) executive, Kevin Lunney, according to deputy commissioner John Twomey.

Units responding to the crime include three teams of Armed Support Unit (ASU) gardaí deployed more recently in Dublin to clamp down on the Kinahan Hutch feuding gangs.

The three ASU teams which arrived in Cavan town on Friday will be used in northern Cavan along the border as a deterrent against any repetition directed at his fellow senior executives in QIH.

Following a case conference on Friday at Cavan Garda station, attended by Mr Twomey and several Police Service of Northern Ireland officers, the deputy commissioner described what happened to Mr Lunney as "outrageous".

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“It was an outrageous attack and something that we won’t tolerate,” he told The Irish Times.

“I have gone through the work that is being done and we will be taking every action that we need to bring the perpetrators of this terrible act to justice.

“Every resource of the organisation, and the full weight of the organisation and the skills are being put at the disposal of Chief Superintendent [John O’Reilly],” who heads the Cavan-Monaghan Garda Division.

Mr Twomey said: “The first thing we want to do is provide reassurance to the public. The second thing we want to do is bring the perpetrators of this to justice and we will be doing everything, from the organisation’s perspective, to give support here [in Cavan], from all the national units that have been made available to John, he has the whole resources of the organisation at his disposal, from an investigative and preventative perspective. There will be no stone left unturned.”

Asked about the scale of the investigation he was leading, Chief Supt O’Reilly, declined to go into details.

“We have all we need. I am not going to get into a numbers game,” he said. “What has happened here is an incredible step upwards, in terms of the operation that has been ongoing in respect of the level of criminality directed against the Quinn group since 2011.”

Mr Lunney was abducted outside his Fermanagh home after work on Tuesday evening. He was hooded and then bundled into the boot of a car while his own vehicle and another kidnappers’ blocking vehicle, were set on fire.

He was later put into a horse box-like space where he was beaten and slashed with a Stanley-type knife. One of his legs was broken in two places, his face, neck and torso were lacerated, and bleach was poured over him, apparently to remove traces of his attackers’ DNA.

He was dumped by the roadside about 12 kms west of Cavan town some two hours later and was found by a passerby at 9pm.