Gardai seize firearms in inquiry into feud by rival drugs gangs

Gardaí have seized firearms, ammunition and cocaine as part of their investigations into a feud between rival drugs gangs which left one man fighting for his life after a gun attack two weeks ago.

The discovery was made yesterday when gardaí carried out planned searches at a number of houses on the Malahide Road, near Darndale on the north side of Dublin.

They found two sawn-off shotguns, ammunition, cocaine and drug-dealing paraphernalia. Gardaí said the quantity of cocaine seized had an estimated street value of €35,000.

The drugs and the guns were undergoing technical examination last night. No arrests were made during yesterday's searches, but investigations are continuing.

Detectives are satisfied that the items seized belong to a drugs gang made up of members of the Travelling community.

The gang has been involved in a bitter armed conflict with a rival Traveller faction in recent years.

On the evening of December 28th, a 19-year-old man who has been involved in the feud was shot five times as he sat in a van on Grangemore Road, Donaghmede, Dublin.

A car pulled up alongside the van in which the victim was travelling as a passenger. One of the occupants of the car opened fire on the van with a sawn-off shotgun.

The victim was hit five times, sustaining multiple wounds to his upper body and a number of pellet wounds to his neck and face.

He was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he is still seriously ill two weeks later.

While he is expected to make a near-full recovery, he has lost the sight in one eye.

Garda sources said the rival factions had repeatedly targeted each other in a series of shooting incidents in recent years.

Twelve months ago the gangs were involved in six non-fatal gun attacks on each other in the space of a week.

Most of those in the dispute are settled Travellers.

However, senior Garda sources said yesterday's operation was part of a wider investigation into serious crime on the north side of the capital which was not limited to members of the Travelling community.

The latest operation was carried out by gardaí from Coolock Garda station assisted by the Garda Dog Unit and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Organised Crime Unit.