GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING a feud between dissident republicans and organised crime gangs have raided business and residential premises and found bullets for a handgun and a small quantity of cocaine. Detectives have arrested three people.
The raids involving uniformed and armed gardaí took place across Dublin’s north inner city and the suburbs of Artane, Beaumont and Donaghmede. The operation began early yesterday morning, with searches continuing throughout the day.
A small number of 9mm rounds of ammunition and cocaine valued at about €500 were found at one of the raided properties.
Members of the 100-strong Garda search team took a number of items, including mobile phones and computers, from some of the houses raided. These will be examined to determine if they contain any data linking the owners of the items to criminality.
The searches were carried out by gardaí from Dublin’s North Central Division. These were supported by the Special Detective Unit, which investigates dissident groups. The Garda Dog Unit was also involved in yesterday’s raids.
The three people arrested, two men, aged 54 and 46 years, and a 55-year-old woman, were detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. They were still being held last night at Store Street, Bridewell and Whitehall Garda stations.
One of the men is a businessman. However, neither he nor the other two arrested people were the central targets.
The men at the centre of the investigation have been involved with the Real IRA for over a decade and gardaí believe they are involved in a drugs feud with the biggest crime gang in Dublin and a number of smaller gangs.
The houses and apartments raided in the suburbs on the northside of the city are linked to members of the Real IRA, some of whom are originally from Donaghmede. Gardaí believe these men, who are in their 30s and known to gardaí, have in recent years been vying for control of contracts to supply security on the doors of pubs and clubs in the city.
Garda sources said the Real IRA faction wants control of the doors because of the revenue associated with providing such security but also because they want to control the sale of drugs in pubs and clubs.
The Real IRA faction has also clashed with the major drug and armed robbery gang in Finglas, north Dublin, that was once led by Martin “Marlo” Hyland, who was shot dead in Finglas in December 2006. After his killing, leadership of the gang was assumed by Finglas man Eamon Dunne (34), who was himself shot dead in a pub in Cabra, north Dublin, last April.
The man regarded as the current leader of the Finglas gang survived a gun attack last year. The Real IRA faction at the centre of yesterday’s raid are the chief suspects for that attack.
A number of crime gangs that have been extorted by the Real IRA faction have formed what is effectively a coalition to resist further extortion demands.
As well as a shooting outside a pub in which a number of men were wounded and the attempt last year to shoot dead the current leader of the major Finglas gang, there have been a large number of shootings linked to the Real IRA’s feud with the Dublin crime gangs.
Last year an attempt was made to shoot a middle-aged drug dealer in a middle-class north Dublin suburb but the gunman’s weapon jammed. The Real IRA faction are the chief suspects for that botched attack.
They are also prime suspects for the shooting dead of one-time drug dealer Seán Winters (41) outside an apartment block in Portmarnock, north Dublin, last September.
Dublin criminal Daniel Gaynor (25), who was shot dead in Finglas last year, was a paid killer who carried out a number of shootings on behalf of the Real IRA faction. He was shot dead by the major Finglas drug gang as part of their feud with the faction. Gaynor was the chief suspect for the shooting dead of Colm Owens (34) in Finglas last summer. Owens was an associate of members of the Finglas drug gang. Gardaí believe Gaynor was paid by the Real IRA to shoot Owens.
