TWO MEMBERS of one of Limerick city’s biggest organised crime gangs have been arrested at a resort in Bulgaria.
The arrests were made when police there searched an apartment after being supplied with information by the Garda.
Of the two arrested yesterday, one, aged 33, is wanted in the Republic to face serious gang-related criminal charges and has been the subject of a European arrest warrant for almost two years.
It was during efforts by the Garda to find him and have him arrested that he was tracked down to the resort in Bulgaria, where ammunition and drugs linked to him were also found.
A second man from Limerick was also arrested by the Bulgarian police. He is a close associate of the main target of the operation, both being senior members of the Keane-Collopy gang in Limerick.
Another key member of the gang’s leadership was killed in a shooting incident in recent years, while three other senior members are in prison in the Republic.
The arrest of the two gang members in Bulgaria comes just one week after two members of the rival McCarthy-Dundon gang were jailed for threats to kill two women in Limerick.
All of those developments effectively mean the majority of the leading figures of Limerick’s two main feuding gangs are now out of circulation.
The main target of yesterday’s operation at the Sunny Beach resort on the Black Sea is a convicted drug dealer. He fled Ireland in summer 2010, as gardaí wanted to arrest him over allegations that he threatened to kill a witness in a gangland trial.
Another member of the Keane-Collopy gang has since been jailed for a lengthy period for threatening to kill a witness.
Gardaí had been seeking one of the men now detained in Bulgaria for almost two years and had issued a European arrest warrant.
He had spent time in Manchester and in Prague. He was arrested in the Czech capital in recent weeks but released without charge. From there he went to Bulgaria, where he was tracked down by Garda intelligence.
Gardaí informed the Bulgarian authorities of the man’s location and requested that they execute the European arrest warrant, which would clear the way for his deportation to the Republic to be charged with the threats to kill the witness a number of years ago.
However, when the Bulgarian police raided the apartment where the Limerick man was staying, they found cash, drugs and ammunition and also arrested the second man at the scene.
The main criminal under arrest in Bulgaria is now expected to be deported to the Republic. He will be charged with the threats to kill and if convicted and jailed, he will complete his sentence in Ireland.
Once he has served that jail term, he will be sent back to Bulgaria to face any possible charges over yesterday’s find.
The second man arrested is not wanted in the Republic, so he can be dealt with immediately by the Bulgarian authorities.
