Gardaí were last night braced for an escalation of gangland violence following the shooting dead in Dublin of one of the biggest drug dealers in the country. Sources were describing the shooting of Martin "Marlo" Hyland as the most significant gangland murder since Martin Cahill's killing in 1994.
The shooting dead of a 20-year-old plumber's apprentice, Anthony Campbell, who was working at the house where Hyland was staying in Finglas when the killers arrived, has put the Government under renewed pressure over the record level of gun crime.
Hyland's killers appear to have shot the young man because he might have been a potential witness. Gardaí said he was an entirely innocent party who was simply "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Hyland's murder yesterday morning was said by detectives to be highly organised, involving surveillance on his movements and the use of a silencer on the handgun that fired the fatal shots.
Hyland (39) originally came from Cabra, Dublin. Mr Campbell lived in St Michan's Flats, Greek Street, Dublin..
Both were shot in the head at Hyland's niece's house at Scribblestown Park, Finglas.
Gardaí believe the killers happened across Mr Campbell unexpectedly in the course of their attack on Hyland.
Mr Campbell's employer had left him alone working in the house as Hyland lay upstairs in bed.
When he returned to the property after collecting supplies he found his young employee and Hyland both shot dead.
Hyland had been warned by gardaí as recently as last Thursday that his life was in danger.
He told officers he already knew of the plans by a former associate to kill him.
He was living between addresses in west Dublin and had moved into the house where he was killed because he believed he would not be found there by his enemies.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny described as "a disaster" the record of Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell in relation to gangland crime.
Labour's justice spokesman, Brendan Howlin, said Mr McDowell's "complacency is astonishing.Today's horrific murders must shake him and his Government colleagues from their complacency and lethargy."
Mr McDowell said Hyland had recently been put under pressure following a major Garda inquiry into his activities and this may have led to his murder.
"There is no doubt that the chief target of the operation had many, many enemies in Dublin gangland," Mr McDowell said.
"The savagery with which this was carried out and the degree of preparation that was put into it and the degree of surveillance that must have been there altogether combine to put it on a very, very serious level indeed."
Mr McDowell yesterday held talks with the Garda Commissioner, Noel Conroy, on the killing.
Assistant Commissioner Martin Callinan, who is in charge of national support services, has been asked to investigate links between yesterday's shooting and other recent gangland killings in Dublin.
Hyland was involved in a large number of shootings, including at least three gangland killings.
His gang is suspected of offering "logistical assistance" to a number of foreign national criminals in the killing in Swords, Co Dublin, last month of Latvian mother of two Baiba Saulite.
He was a major supplier of cocaine, heroin and cannabis to gangs across the country.
In recent months he had found himself the target of the Garda's Operation Oak.
It involved all of the major Garda units, members of which were brought together to specifically target Hyland and his associates.
Yesterday's double killing brings to 23 the number of gun murders this year, two more than last year's record figure.
The drugs trade, to which most of the killings are linked, is also operating at record levels and is now worth more than €1 billion annually.
Gardaí believe a stolen black Volkswagen Passat, registration 06 D 77432, which was found burned out in Ballygall, Glasnevin, was used in yesterday's killings. It was stolen at the end of last month.
Gardaí are anxious to speak to anybody who may have seen the vehicle around the Scribblestown estate at the time of the killing between 9am and 9.30am, or on Ratoath Rd, Finglas, which is the only access road to and from the murder scene.