Police investigating the brutal killings of three Irishmen in The Hague are understood to be investigating links between one of the victims and a Dublin gangster operating in the Netherlands whose drugs ring was broken by police last March.
An associate of the gang that killed journalist Veronica Guerin, this gangster was arrested in Amsterdam carrying a fake passport and a loaded gun. Follow-up raids yielded arms and drugs with an estimated street value of more than £8 million.
A Dutch associate of the Dublin trafficker, who is believed to be a major criminal figure, was also arrested after months of an extensive operation between the Dutch and Irish police known as Operation Plover.
One theory is that he may have ordered the killings because he suspected the men had passed information on consignments to the police. Reports in one newspaper yesterday stated that Dutch officers carrying out surveillance on the Dublin drug trafficker before his arrest saw him visit the flat complex where the three men were tortured and killed in the seaside resort of Scheveningen. According to Dutch police sources, a quantity of amphetamines and a tablet press were discovered at the flat, which was rented by one of the men.
The seizure in March was the second time the gang lost shipments to the joint Dutch-Irish investigation. A large consignment of drugs and guns was intercepted by the gardai in Co Monaghan in December 1998.
The names of the three victims, two brothers from Bansha, Co Tipperary, and one man from Ennis, Co Clare, had not been officially confirmed last night. Blood samples and dental records were flown to the Netherlands last Thursday to aid identification of the charred and mutilated remains.