Killing linked to drugs feud

Gardaí carried out house-to-house visits and continued to question witnesses yesterday in connection with the fatal shooting of a man in Inchicore on Saturday evening.

Mr Declan Griffin was shot at the Horse and Jockey pub on Emmet Road at 6.10 p.m. and died later in St James's Hospital.

His death has been linked with an ongoing feud over the control of the supply of drugs and gardaí are investigating the possible involvement of former paramilitaries.

Gardaí are also investigating suspected links between the killing and the abduction of Mr Michael Moran from his home in south Dublin on Saturday morning.

Shankill Garda station is investigating the circumstances of the abduction, which happened at Rathmichael Road on Saturday morning. He was taken away in a van by a group of armed and masked men.

A Garda spokesman said Mr Moran presented himself "safe and well" to Cahir Garda station in Tipperary at 10.30 p.m. on Sunday night.

He was questioned by gardaí and returned to his home in Dublin yesterday.

The Garda spokesman said there had been no major breakthrough in the investigation of Mr Griffin's death.

In 1999, a jury found him not guilty of bringing almost €1.3 million worth of heroin and ecstasy into Dublin Airport from Amsterdam in 1995.

He told the court he was a Garda informant and that his Garda handler, Det Sgt Denis Palmer, has asked him to import the drugs.

The detective rejected the claim but said he had agreed to meet Mr Griffin at the airport.

The Garda Commissioner ordered an internal inquiry into the incident but the findings were never made public.

The Garda spokesman said he could neither confirm nor deny newspaper reports that the Garda Commissioner had ordered two other internal inquiries into Mr Griffin before his death.

It is understood that one of the inquiries was linked to his possible involvement in the killing of William "Jock" Corbally in Kildare in 1996.

According to a Dublin Daily report, Mr Corbally's family called for an inquiry into the handling of the case and said Mr Griffin had openly admitted his role in the killing to Mr Corbally's brother, Eddie, but was never charged.Yesterday a Garda spokesman said he could not comment on this.

Of the 17 violent deaths this year, at least five killings have been linked with gangland feuds.