GARDAÍ BELIEVE a number of criminals linked to a worsening gangland feud have fled the country after further violence at the weekend saw a hand grenade thrown into a house and exploding.
Senior officers investigating the feud in south Dublin’s Crumlin and Drimnagh suburbs believe the leader of one of the gangs involved has left the country, most likely for Spain, in an effort to avert an anticipated attempt on his life.
In the latest feud-related attack, a hand grenade was thrown into a house in Knocknarea Avenue, Drimnagh, just before 2.30am on Saturday.
Gardaí believe the attacker used a brick to smash a glass panel on the hall door of the house before throwing the grenade into the hall. The grenade exploded, causing extensive damage to the downstairs area. Shrapnel from the device also lodged in the ceilings and walls upstairs.
Six people, including two children, were asleep in the house at the time, but no one was injured. The youngest occupant was a six-year-old boy.
A number of vehicles parked in the driveway were damaged. Members of the Garda Technical Bureau carried out a full forensic examination of the scene.
A red Fiat Punto car found burnt out on Sperrin Road close to the crime scene is believed to have been used by the attackers. It was also technically examined at the weekend.
Gardaí believe the residents of the house on Knocknarea Avenue were targeted because they are related to a man who is a member of one of the feuding gangs. Saturday’s attack is believed to be directly linked to recent tit-for-tat non-fatal attacks in the feud.
Last Wednesday, a grandmother in her 50s was wounded in the shoulder when a gunman fired shots into her home on Knocknarea Road, close to the scene of the subsequent grenade attack. Later on Wednesday, the home of an elderly couple was shot at in the Coombe.
Like Saturday’s grenade attack, the occupants of the two houses targeted last Wednesday were singled out because they are related to men involved in the feud. The fighting has claimed nine lives since 2001.
The opposing gangs have been locked into a cycle of tit-for-tat attacks ever since they fell out when one leading criminal accused another of informing after the Garda seized a drugs shipment nine years ago.
Most of those involved were teenagers at the time and are still in their 20s now. Gardaí believe the fighting is now a personalised feud and a drugs turf war. The main players have made considerable sums dealing cocaine.
Many of them are heavy users of the drug, leading to enhanced levels of paranoia and volatility.
The last few months has seen a dramatic increase in the number of pipe bomb feud attacks, along with some incidents involving grenades. The grenades are believed to have originated in the former Yugoslavia and, like the pipe bombs, have been supplied by the INLA and other dissident republicans.