http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/26/five-held-ireland-bomb-border

Five men held in Ireland over bomb found near border
Security sources say it is believed the device was being transported to a target in Northern Ireland.

The Garda Síochána have had a string of successes against anti-ceasefire republican terror groups in the past year.

Five men remain in custody in the Irish Republic over the discovery of a bomb close to the border with Northern Ireland.

The arrests north of Dundalk, Co Louth, were part of a long-term surveillance operation against republican dissident terrorist activity. The men, aged between 50 and 70, are being held under the Offences Against the State Act, the Republic's anti-terrorism laws.

The area where the bomb was discovered has been sealed off and the device is being dealt with by an Irish army bomb disposal unit.

The device was found after armed Garda officers stopped a car near Kilcurry on Sunday night.

A beer keg in the vehicle was allegedly found to contain the components for a large improvised explosive device.

Security sources in the Republic said it was believed that the bomb was being transported to a target in Northern Ireland.

The Garda Síochána have had a string of successes against anti-ceasefire republican terror groups in the past year. Planned attacks by the new IRA, Continuity IRA and Óghlaigh na hÉireann have either been thwarted or their devices have only partially exploded.

The most potentially lethal attack took place just before Christmas when a bomb exploded as police officers were clearing the cathedral area of Belfast after a telephone warning. The republican dissident group Óglaigh na hÉireann claimed responsibility for the device.

Separately, a former Real IRA prisoner is to become a member of the new Derry-Strabane district council in Northern Ireland following local elections last Thursday. Gary Donnelly topped the poll in a working-class Moor ward of Derry, where the new IRA alliance has a base.

image url



A WITNESS has told the trial of two Limerick men charged with the murder of businessman Roy Collins that she lied to gardai in order to protect her partner, who is a key prosecution witness in the case.

Elaine Walsh yesterday gave evidence in the trial of Wayne Dundon (36), of Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, and Nathan Killeen (24), of Hyde Road, Prospect, who have pleaded not guilty to the murder of 35-year-old Roy Collins at Coin Castle Amusements, Roxboro Road Shopping Centre, on April 9, 2009.

Ms Walsh said she was in a relationship with Gareth Collins. Gareth Collins (31), also known as Gareth Keogh, gave evidence at the Special Criminal Court last week that he was offered €20,000 to take part in the killing of publican Steve Collins, the father of Roy Collins.

Ms Walsh told counsel for Dundon, Mr Remy Farrell SC, that on the night before April 9, 2009, she was at home with her two children. She said Gareth Collins was not there.

In a statement to gardai on, Ms Walsh said she collected Gareth Collins on the night of April 8. Mr Farrell said 
Ms Walsh stated she drove the car.

Ms Walsh told gardai that around 10.30pm on April 8 Gareth Collins left her house in her car.

Put to her by Mr Farrell that she “presumably gave a truthful account” to gardai, Ms Walsh replied: “At that time I did not.”

Ms Walsh told counsel she was sure that Gareth Collins had not taken her car. Mr Farrell said Gareth Collins was was stopped and searched in a 06 Limerick-registered car on April 8.

Ms Walsh said that she could not remember giving Gareth Collins her car but he must have had it.

accused

Much of the day’s proceedings were taken up with the cross-examination of April Collins, who is a sister of Gareth Collins. Ms Collins used to be in a relationship with Gerard Dundon - a brother of the accused Wayne Dundon - and had three children with him.

April Collins agreed with Michael Bowman BL, for Wayne Dundon, that she made statements to gardai between April 8 and 20, 2011.

She agreed that she pleaded guilty to a charge of interfering with a witness and received a three-year suspended sentence.

Put to her that “it was fair to say” she thought the suspended sentence she entered in was “a joke” Ms Collins replied: “No.”

The cross-examination of Ms Collins will continue later in the trial.

The trial continues.

image hosting services. A BROTHER of one of two men shot in the back of the head and dumped on a remote island warned their killers last night: “We will find you.”
A furious Ruairi O’Connor vowed in an interview with The Star: “We will do everything we can to find the people who did this.
He was speaking as gardai began a murder probe into the deaths of his brother Eoin O’Connor (32) and Anthony Keegan (34).

The two friends’ badly decomposed bodies were found on an island in a Co Meath lake just after 4pm on Monday.

And it was confirmed last night that the remains had been formally identified as those of the pals — who went missing more than a month ago.

Tribute

And now Ruairi has told The Star that the family is determined to track down the pair’s killers.


SHOT: Eoin O’Connor
He said: “When we do we will deal with it in our own way. We are afraid of nobody.”

Ruairi also told The Star “We are just thankful to God that they were both found. We still want to know what happened to them.”

Businessman Ruairi paid tribute to the gardai who have been searching for the friends since they vanished on April 22.

The pair went missing when they went from their native Coolock in north Dublin to the Ballyjamesduff area of Co Cavan to recover a drugs debt.

Ruairi said: “The Gardai have been absolutely fantastic. They have always been in touch with us.

Grim

“And the people of Cavan have been brilliant too.”

The men’s bodies were found on an island on Lough Sheelin on the Cavan-Meath border.

Sources told The Star that gardai believe they were killed on the day they were last seen — April 22.

A preliminary examination by State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy found that both men had been shot in the back of the head at close range, sources said.

The bodies had badly decomposed after they were left together tied in a blue tarpaulin with leaves and branches over it for more than a month.

The grim find was made on Monday by the Garda Dog Unit in a planned search.

A silver Ford Focus car that had been used by the two men was found abandoned last April 25 at Lough Owel outside Mullingar, Co Westmeath.


DUMPED: Anthony Keegan
Gardai are probing the theory that the pair were killed over a €15,000 drugs debt they went to collect.

One theory is that they were killed by small-time drug dealers who owed them the cash.

The other is that they were murdered by a gang who muscled in on the debt.

Officers say they suspect the local gang may have become aware of the debt and offered to deal with it — in return for just €10,000.

And it is suspected that when the pals went to collect the cash owed to them, the gang murdered them.

Sources say gardai believe the bodies — taken to the island on a small boat — were disposed of by just one man.

Panic

That man managed to drag both bodies into the boat, row some 500 metres to the island, lift them out and dump them in undergrowth.

Meanwhile, sources also revealed that a female suspect rang her father in a panic shortly after the killing — and begged for money to help her and pals get out of Ireland.

“She told her father, ‘Something terrible has happened — we need money to get out of here’,” a source said.

Several suspects are now in England — including at least one foreign national.

But gardai expect to make a move on suspects in the coming days and will extradite people back to Ireland to face charges if necessary.

Gardai have also sealed off a house in the Mountnugent area, close to Lough Sheelin, but officers do not believe the murders took place there.

free image uploading MANY observers feared that Alan Ryan’s murder would lead to a ferocious backlash from the IRA but instead since September 2012, dissident republicanism has been wracked by infighting and weakened by major garda successes.

This did not seem a likely scenario on the afternoon of Saturday, September 8 when Dublin saw the biggest paramilitary show of strength in a generation at Ryan’s funeral.

The massive funeral in Donaghmede attracted huge controversy after a volley of shots was fired over Ryan’s coffin as it left his family home shortly after 9am on the day.

Ryan’s graveside oration was given by notorious Armagh dissident republican, Colin Duffy.

Duffy described Alan Ryan as “a brave Irish republican and fearless IRA volunteer” who was dedicated to “fighting foreign interference in our country”.

Gardai made no arrests on the day of the funeral because of fears that such an action would lead to a “full scale riot situation”.

However, a detailed investigation, led by the Special Detective Unit and known as Operation Ambience, into the events surrounding the funeral led to a number of men facing IRA membership charges after armed gardai carried out dozens of high-profile dawn raids.

These resulted in 17 arrests including that of four of Alan Ryan’s brothers Vincent, Anthony, Eoin and Dermot - who were all later released without charge.

As gardai increased their investigations into the IRA on the back of massive public and political outrage over the events of the funeral, cracks began to appear in the organisation with money disputes at the centre of bitter internal feuding.

When detectives raided the north inner city home of Ryan’s close pal Nathan Kinsella they made an extremely significant discovery.

Officers removed a cover from an extractor fan over a cooker in the kitchen of Kinsella’s home and found three pieces of paper which gave a clear idea of the level of extortion and violence that Ryan’s mob was involved in.

On the first page the author stated: “I understand that I went against army orders by not going to my OC,” while the second page made reference to financial transactions involving large sums of €120,000, €20,000 and €60,000 accompanied by various names.

There were also references to a Glock firearm and two shotguns, references to a person still having those weapons and a statement that the weapons had been given back.

This showed that Kinsella - who is now serving a two-year jail sentence at Ireland’s highest security prison in Portlaoise for IRA membership was heavily involved in extorting money from the drugs gangs that had murdered Ryan.

Kinsella was later accused of stealing money by his former IRA bosses who shot him in the leg in a punishment attack in Ballyfermot in November, 2012 - the first definitive sign that the dissidents were at war with each other.

Tensions had indeed appeared within the IRA before Ryan’s murder. This was obvious after an incident four months before Ryan was killed when he shot another dissident republican in the leg in an attack on the Malahide Road in north Dublin.

But then as the weeks turned into months after the murder, it became clear that the Real IRA was at war with itself and large sums of missing cash were at the centre of most of the feuding.

On January 19 of last year, Fat’ Deccy Smith - the thug who Ryan was visiting on the day he was shot dead - was summoned to an internal IRA meeting.

Smith was later found with a gunshot wound to his leg in a housing estate in Saggart - another punishment shooting organised and sanctioned by senior dissident republican figures.

While this bitter infighting was going on, the dissidents carried out a symbolic’ murder when they targeted former crime godfather Eamonn Kelly who was shot dead in front of a schoolgirl on the evening of December 4, 2012 as he walked his dog.

Kelly had previously survived an assassination attempt at his home in the summer of 2010 when Ryan’s mob tried to murder him after he refused to pay up to their extortion demands.

position

Kelly was a well-known criminal who had been the feature of many high-profile news reports and the IRA decided that an example had to be made of him three months after Ryan’s murder.

Shortly before Kelly was shot dead, many of the gangsters who had fled Ireland after the death of Alan Ryan returned home as it became clear that the IRA were not in a position to take them on.

Meanwhile, after Smith was shot in January, 2013 the Real IRA made it publicly clear that they were now involved in a “clean-up drive” in which many of Alan Ryan’s associates were to be expelled from the organistaion.

IRA bosses in the North ordered the “weeding out” of members who they deemed to be a risk to their plans in their ongoing war against the British security apparatus in the six counties.

At the time,

A high-level dissident source said that over 10 more figures in the Dublin area were to be removed as they were deemed too much of a “risk” to the organisation.

At this stage some of Ryan’s best mates were forced to flee their homes under threat from their former IRA associates and the increasingly powerful mobsters who were involved in Ryan’s murder.

In March of last year the internal feuding within the Real IRA had its first murder when well-known dissident Republican Peter Butterly was shot dead outside the Huntsman Inn at Gormanston, Co Meath, when he turned up at a meeting with some of his former associates.

Butterly had been involved in a long-standing internal feud with Alan Ryan and his mob and was even blamed by Ryan’s cronies for setting the terror chief up for murder after a number of bitter cash disputes.

As the feuding continued, gardai exerted huge pressure on the dissidents which heightened tension within the organisation.

DESECRATION

Such an action would have been unthinkable a year earlier and it showed that criminals were no longer afraid of the faction still loyal to Alan Ryan.

Officers had vowed to make sure that there was no repeat of the paramilitary scenes that marked Ryan’s funeral and the the desecration of the grave was the most significant event 
of the day which passed off without major incident.

In the months that followed criminals 
stepped up a campaign of harassment against the Ryan family and in April of this year were suspected of being involved an incident in 
which a car belonging to Alan’s brother Eoin - who has no involvement in crime - was completely destroyed outside the family’s Donaghmede home.

But it has not been all bad news for the Ryan family. Last October Alan’s younger brother Vincent (23) was cleared of serious 
firearms charges in relation to the date in September, 2011 in which drugs trafficker Michael Micka’ Kelly was shot dead by the IRA.


Vincent and his co-accused Darragh Evans (24) had spent 13 months locked up on remand in Portlaoise Prison before 
they were eventually cleared but came out of jail knowing that they were facing a death threat.

This is now a brutal reality for most of Alan Ryan’s former associates - a reality that would lead to the murder of one of Ryan’s closest associates Fat’ Deccy Smith who was gunned own outside a north Dublin creche in March.

how to do a screenshot on a pc


A series of raids carried out by gardaí in Waterford has resulted in the arrest of more than 40 people.

The planned raids on houses and premises in the city on Tuesday morning involved up to 100 gardaí, including officers from local units and armed units.

Support was provided by the Criminal Assets Bureau and Garda Air Support.

The operation is targeting organised crime in the area.

http://www.herald.ie/news/how-alan-ryan-...k-30312922.html

How Alan Ryan signed his own death warrant in a face-off at a city car park.

29 MAY 2014 12:00 AM

THE gang that were involved in organising and carrying out the murder of Alan Ryan are one of the most organised and longest established mobs in the country.

Drug dealing, tiger kidnappings, armed robberies, punishment shootings, assaults and stealing huge amounts of drugs and cash from other gangs are what they have specialised in, but they have also been suspected of involvement in at least six other murders over the past decade.

For years, the mob who control a drug-dealing patch from the north inner city all the way up to Drogheda, Co Louth, co-existed with the IRA but all this changed when the two factions became embroiled in a bitter dispute, which kicked off after one of Ryan’s mates was brutally assaulted by one of the gangsters in a north Dublin nightclub in late 2011.

This assault led to a number of tit-for-tat incidents, which finally resulted in Ryan’s murder in September, 2012.

One of the main players in the gang is a north Dublin criminal nicknamed Mr Big’. Previously, he had a working relationship with the dissident terrorists who turned to him for permission when they shot dead Mr Big’s drug-trafficking rival Michael Micka’ Kelly outside an apartment in Clonshaugh in September 2011.

POWER BASE

But that all changed throughout 2012 as Alan Ryan’s power base continued to grow and his scraps with the gangsters got more serious.

The IRA were involved in stealing a huge cash sum that was to be delivered to Spain to buy drugs for the gang who in turn hatched a plan to murder Ryan. However, they did not go ahead with it because a number of innocent young women were in the house where they intended to kill the Real IRA boss.

As the tension continued, gardai officially warned Ryan on a number of occasions that his life was under threat but he continued with his violent cash drive against the mobsters, particularly street level criminals connected to them who were beaten up and had their drugs robbed.

The final straw came in August, 2012, when Ryan and his crew cut and beat up a very close associate of a tiger-kidnap boss outside a north Dublin pub.

He was said to be “absolutely furious” that his younger associate had been attacked in such a way and was “very angry” that Ryan’s crew were trying to extort money from his gang.

This led to a face-off between Alan Ryan and the tiger kidnapper in a Coolock carpark in which Ryan was warned: “You are dead, you will be getting a bullet in your head.”

It is understood that Ryan then issued counter death threats to the criminal and warned that he would continue to attack his younger associates.

A plan to murder Ryan was then put in place with up to 15 gangsters from four different crime groupings being actively involved, gardai believe.

“The shooting was far from a spur of the moment thing - it was planned for many weeks and even up to two months. Cars and apartments were all sorted in advance - flight tickets were booked - it was a large enterprise involving criminals acting in a disciplined and determined way.

“These lads carried out their own surveillance on Ryan and had a great handle on his movements. They were watching as he spent many of his evenings visiting his string of girlfriends and they were obviously watching as he walked down Grange Lodge Avenue on the day of the killing,” a senior source explained.

And it was carried out in a clinical and brutal manner in broad daylight. The killing was so well planned that no-one has yet been charged with the murder and unusually the gunman has not been definitely identified.

Tellingly, all of the gangsters who were involved in the murder plot are all still alive and have not been targeted in any meaningful way by the newly-formed IRA grouping which emerged at the start of last year.

But it has not been all plain sailing for the gangsters, who became the focus of increased garda attention after the murder and many of the criminals are now facing serious charges before the courts or have fled since the high-profile murder.

One of the most senior members of the mob is arch-criminal Paschal Kelly (48) who is on-the-run and had his Co Cavan home, a car and €14,000 in cash seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) last February.

The High Court heard evidence from CAB that Kelly had 42 previous convictions, including one for which he received ten years imprisonment for robbery of travel agents.

The court also heard Kelly and his associates had access to a number of vehicles which he drove using a general car dealer’s/garage insurance policy, even though he has no record of involvement in the motor trade.

Kelly, like many of the mob involved in Alan Ryan’s murder, have strong connections to Co Cavan where some of them have built large homes in rural locations.

It was the presence of these mobsters which led gardai to discover €5m worth of heroin, an Uzi sub-machine gun and a handful of bullets during a raid at a derelict house in Virginia, Co Cavan, in April last year.

Meanwhile, Paschal Kelly has fled the country but his close associate Mr Big’ has remained in Dublin and is unable to flee because he is under garda surveillance after being forced to hand over his passport to the authorities as part of his bail conditions in relation to serious charges that he is facing.

However, this has not stopped him being involved in a number of major gangland spats, including with some of Alan Ryan’s former associates.

In March of this year, the gang boss was involved in an incident in which he threatened and pointed a handgun at Ryan’s former pal Darragh Evans (24).

Gardai launched an investigation after officers received a call saying that Mr Big’ approached the vehicle and then smashed in its front window before pointing a handgun at him.

Evans managed to flee and gardai were alerted to the situation, which happened close to the Dolphin House pub in south inner city Dublin.

This was not the first time that Mr Big’ had caused mayhem in that part of the capital - he was arrested at James Street on December 4, 2012, just days after returning from Spain where he had spent the months after Ryan’s murder. When arrested he was driving with a close criminal associate and in possession of cable ties.

ASSASSINATE

Detectives later received information that he was on his way to assassinate drug-dealing rival Greg Lynch. The convicted heroin dealer survived after he was shot in the face in an unconnected murder attempt last October.

As he continues his involvement in serious crime, Mr Big’ remains a prime target for the gardai’s Organised Crime Unit and sources say that his gang remain one of the most active in the country.

Despite being under death threat from dissident Republicans, they have continued with their activities and have in fact taken the upper hand in the feud between the factions, which has led to many of Alan Ryan’s former associates being driven from their homes.

Innocent family members of these individuals have also been targeted as the crime gangs continue with their drive against Ryan’s faction.

At the same time, the mob spent months trying to gather money that had been promised to it by criminals who clubbed in and paid for Ryan’s murder.

And other major criminals continue to circle around them. In early May, Mr Big’s close associate Christopher Zambra (39) was shot dead in broad daylight in Drimnagh, south Dublin, leading to speculation that associates of Ryan orgainsed the murder.

Zambra’s death is a major blow for Mr Big’ as the two men were very close, with Zambra being seen by gardai at the gang boss’ heavily fortified home just days before the murder.

What is not in doubt is that the gangland landscape has dramatically changed since the murder of Alan Ryan, but the body-count increases as the underworld’s endless round of blood letting continues.

https://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/...d-pair-executed

Psycho gang boss who ordered hit is linked to Alan Ryan murder.

The violent gangster who ordered the execution of two men whose bodies were found on an deserted island, was also involved in RIRA chief Alan Ryan’s murder.

The bodies of Eoin O’Connor (32) and Anthony Keegan (33), were discovered on an island in Lough Sheelin, Co. Meath, on Tuesday – five weeks after they went missing.

Gardai believe their murder was ordered by a close associate of the two men who is based on Dublin’s northside and who blamed the two men for the loss of a drugs shipment.

The psychopathic armed robber was part of a coalition of criminals who hired a hitman to kill Ryan – along with his associate, the new ‘Mr Big’ of Irish crime.

One source has described the double murder as a complicated series of “double crosses and back stabbings”.

The Sunday World can reveal that:

Two Polish hitmen are believed to have carried out the shooting.

O’Connor and Keegan were set up by an African national who sourced drugs off them.

The gang boss has vowed to get revenge for the double murder in a bid to throw police off the scent.

Gardai believe O’Connor and Keegan were low-level members of a Coolock-based gang who were involved in the drugs trade, but were not considered violent criminals.

However, they angered a major crime boss after gardai successfully seized a shipment of drugs which was being stored in a house on the northside of the city last year.

The violent mobster is one of the most-feared criminals in the country and has been involved in tiger kidnappings, armed robberies and drug trafficking.

He is suspected of organising Alan Ryan’s death, along with his some-time associate Mr Big, in September 2012.

Weeks before Ryan’s murder, the thug confronted the dissident leader outside a pub after the RIRA mob’s gang beat up one of his relatives.

It is believed he told Ryan he was a “dead man” and that he would have him killed.

Detectives believe he was subsequently part of a criminal coalition – including ‘Mr Big’ and his veteran criminal mentor – who paid to hire a hitman to have Ryan killed.

But gardai are now convinced that he also ordered the murder of his close pals Eoin O’Connor and Anthony Keegan in order to make “an example” of them for failing to pay their drug debts.

The Sunday World can also reveal that two Polish men are believed to have shot O’Connor and Keegan in the back of the head.

The Polish nationals agreed to kill the two Dubliners – described as minor gangland criminals – in exchange for the write-off of a drugs debt.

The pair have since fled the country with their girlfriends because they fear they could be killed by the Dublin crime boss as he tries to cover his tracks.

A source has claimed that the Polish men came to the attention of the gardai as suspects after they abandoned their home and failed to ensure their dogs were looked after.

It is believed the Polish men were hired by an African national who was directly sourcing drugs from O’Connor and Keegan.

The man – who had been living in the north midlands for a number of years – is heavily involved in the cocaine and cannabis trade.

He comes from a respectable family in Africa. However, along with another male associate, he has become involved in crime in Ireland and has a history of violence.

He agreed to murder the Dublin pair in order to have a E30,000 drug debt wiped off by the Dublin mobster. In return, he agreed to write-off a five-figure debt owed to him by the Polish men in exchange for carrying out the shooting.

Detectives suspect that O’Connor and Keegan were murdered in an isolated home close to Lough Sheelin.

One of the men witnessed his friend being shot dead – the autopsy showed that he had been shot in the hand in an attempt to defend himself.

This bullet then passed through the unfortunate victim’s stomach before he was shot in the head.

Their bodies were then brought by rowing boat to the island by the African national before being poorly hidden under a plastic sheet. Their badly decomposed remains were discovered after a local fisherman noticed a foul smell.

Since the murder, a total of 13 people have fled the country in fear for their lives.

A source said that people involved in the murder are terrified that they will be killed by the Dublin crime boss.

“They are convinced he will target them in order to tie up all the loose ends,” said the source.

“Despite setting up the murder, he is now threatening to kill the people involved.”

O’Connor and Keegan travelled to Co. Cavan on April 22 to collect a €15,000 drug debt from a low-level dealer.

It’s understood they went on to Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, but the pair stopped answering calls at around 9pm.

Some of O’Connor’s family travelled to Cavan that night in a bid to find the men and an official garda search was launched 24 hours later.

A day later an anonymous call was made to Mountjoy Garda station saying that the two men had been shot and dumped in a field.

On Thursday, April 24, the car that the men travelled to Cavan in was discovered near Lough Owel on the N4 near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

Detectives suspect it was dumped here to draw attention away from Co. Cavan.

Supt Sean Farrell of Kells Garda Station has appealed to anyone who may have seen a grey Ford Focus 04 D 46380 around Lough Sheelin near the townland of Ross, Mountnugent between April 20 and 25 to contact them.

This was the car that O’Connor and Keegan travelled to Co Cavan in.

The vehicle was found in the carpark at Lough Owel near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, on the morning of April 25.

http://www.herald.ie/news/guns-with-silencers-seized-by-gardai-30344509.html

Guns with silencers seized by gardai.

BY KEN FOY – 11 JUNE 2014 12:00 AM

GARDAI seized two loaded handguns with silencers attached after a routine patrol stopped a car in Dublin.
 Officers from the local drugs unit at Ronanstown became suspicious yesterday after they stopped a car and another vehicle pulled in nearby on the Newcastle Road at Grange, near Adamstown.

The gardai carried out a search of the vehicle and recovered a bag, containing two loaded magnums, silencers and ammunition.

The three suspects, who were all in their 20s and Lithuanian, were arrested at the scene around 3pm and taken to Lucan and Ronanstown Garda Stations for questioning.

INTERCEPTED

Gardai believe the guns were being moved to a safe house when they were intercepted.

A source said: “The fact that the weapons were loaded, seems ominous. They weren’t going shooting pigeons.”

The weapons were taken away for forensic examination by technical bureau experts at Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park.

Gardai carried out follow up inquiries last night as gardai investigated the background of the three suspects.

The three men are being detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and can be held without charge for up to three days.

hnews@herald.ie

http://www.herald.ie/news/locals-shocked-by-another-callous-shooting-30353955.html

Locals shocked by another callous shooting.

BY BRIAN BYRNE – 14 JUNE 2014 12:00 AM

IT’S a scene that has been all too familiar on Dublin’s streets this year - Gardai sealing off the location of a shooting with shocked and frightened locals looking on.

The capital’s latest botched hit - the attempt on gangland figure Brian O’Reilly’s life - took place in the normally quiet north Dublin town of Balbriggan yesterday.

A former right-hand man of slain gang boss Eamon The Don’ Dunne, O’Reilly was gunned down outside the Platinum Gym in a retail park, metres away from a popular children’s adventure centre.

Diarmuid Crowley said he was due to drop off his two young children at the centre around the time at which the shooting occurred.

However, he was delayed after his daughter fell asleep and arrived an hour later than planned.

Mr Crowley said: “There should be some sort of unwritten code with these guys, with places like this, you know what I mean? They wouldn’t like if their own kids got caught in the crossfire.”

Mr Crowley, from Youghal in Co Cork, said he and his wife were “disgusted” when they heard what had happened.

It’s not the first shooting this year to take place near where children may be gathered. Declan Fat Deccie’ Smith - an associate of murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan - was shot in the face outside a creche in Donaghmede in March and later died from his injuries.

One witness, who was at the gym at the time of yesterday’s incident, said he recalled seeing a man stumbling across the retail park.

“I was here when it was happening. I could see somebody outside, and I thought he collapsed,” said the witness, who did not wish to be named.

Two of the gym’s regular customers, students Charles Adebayo and Samuel Joseph, described the incident as “absolutely shocking”.

Mr Adebayo said: “We come here every day, we just can’t believe something like that would happen here.”

The shooting took place near the scene of a tragic incident last January, when a mother died and her baby was critically injured after being struck by a people carrier at the entrance to the retail park.

hnews@herald.ie

free uploader

Criminal figure James ‘Nellie’ Walsh has been ignoring bail conditions requiring him to stay at an address in Clondalkin in west Dublin and has been throwing his weight around to collect drug debts.

Walsh fled to Northern Ireland after being warned his life was in danger when associates of the Kinahan gang put a contract on his head. He was forced out of the North two weeks ago by Newry Magistrates Court and ordered to return to Dublin.

It is alleged he was caught with cocaine and cash after being stopped by the PSNI.

As part of bail conditions Walsh is required to stay at an address in Clondalkin, but sources say he has not been staying there.

It is understood he has been keeping a low profile and has been watched by gardai in another area, which we are not disclosing due to the threats against him.

He was also spotted in Co. Kildare last month after trying to force two small-time drug dealers to pay up on a drug debt.

A source said: “The dealers were panic-stricken. He made threats against them and told them to pay up.”

It is understood the debt was not originally owed to Walsh.

In March, Walsh was sentenced to five months in prison after telling a garda he would “get a bullet in the head”.

Because he appealed the sentence he was freed pending the outcome of the appeal. He made the threats when gardai went to his aid after he crashed his car.

Walsh is a suspect in a number of shooting incidents, including a gun attack on Michael Frazier in Dublin in March. He has also been linked to attacks on money launderer Jason Carroll and heroin dealer Greg Lynch last year.

photo hosting sites


The leader of a notorious gang targeted by gardai in a massive crackdown recently has been linked to the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

The gang boss, who we are prevented from naming because he is awaiting trial for an unrelated matter, is behind a wave of intimidation and violence.

He is the figurehead of a network of violent scumbags who have caused misery for many families.

The gang’s powerbase is in the sprawling Ballybeg estate in Waterford city, but its tentacles spread to other areas.

This week it was dealt a major blow as more than 100 gardai kicked in doors of dozens of homes linked to the gang’s operations in a daring dawn raid.

As part of an investigation into the gang, the Sunday World has discovered how:

The gang boss was accused of raping a 12-year-old girl who became pregnant with his child;

The mobsters live in luxury with marble staircases and chandeliers in their homes, but steal their electricity;

Gang members offered a witness €40,000 or a bullet in the head to withdraw evidence in a trial and;

The thugs target poor families with a money-lending racket, take control of their welfare benefits, and have left some parents so broke that their children were taken into care.

The Sunday World has previously revealed how the south east mob burnt and forced families out of their homes as they attempted to take over neighbourhoods. More than 20 families were forced from their homes.

We can also reveal that one of the gang members was arrested last Friday night for a horrific arson attack on a young woman. The man, who is related to the gang boss, had been in a relationship with the woman but they had a falling out. In a shocking act of savagery, he set fire to a bowl of nail polish remover while her hand was in it.

The highly flammable substance ignited and caused devastating burn injuries to the young woman. She was hospitalised and had to get skin grafts over the incident and has left Waterford.

Her attacker had previously tried to convince her to let him use her name to buy a house so he could hide the gang’s assets from CAB.

The gang targets what they see as vulnerable people, including single mothers, elderly people and children. The mob are involved in a range of criminal activity, from drug dealing and extortion to money-lending and burglaries.

Earlier this year, they petrol-bombed a car belonging to local Sinn Fein Councillor John Hearne, who has bravely taken them on and helped victims stand up to the thugs.

Cllr Hearne has stood up to the gang and has helped victims, who were previously too scared to come forward to make official complaints to gardai. His work in encouraging victims helped spark the raids.

He says: “It’s the best policing operation in the history of the city of Waterford. When they dropped the hammer, they dropped a big hammer. Everyone I met in town was delighted.”

It has emerged that the gang boss was behind the rape of a 12-year-old girl a number of years ago. The girl became pregnant as a result of the rape, but no official investigation was launched by gardai.

Associates of the gang boss have also been trying to prevent a court case going ahead in recent months.

One witness in the case was given a choice of “€40,000 or a bullet in a head” to withdraw their evidence. The witness bravely refused and gardai arrested an associate of the gang boss.

The garda raids particularly focused on an illegal money-lending operation which saw them loan money to people in dire straits before demanding huge amounts back in interest.

Those who didn’t pay were threatened, and in some, cases physically attacked.

The gang was so controlling that it forced victims to hand over their social welfare cards. The thugs went with victims to the dole office and also took children’s allowance books.

Cllr Hearne said: “They’ll offer families money to take the children’s allowance book off them for two years. But they never give it back and they’ll only give them small bits of money.

“Children have been put into care because their parents can’t afford to feed them. That’s how bad it is.”

Gardai seized a large amount of stolen goods in raids on around 40 homes in the city. In some, gardai found safes hidden under floorboards, and packed with jewellery and cash. Northern-registered cars were also seized.

Some of the homes were extremely lavish, with marble staircases and floors and chandeliers. However, gardai found that the electricity boxes in many of the homes they raided this week had been tampered with to siphon free electricity.

The gang has been trying to disguise their wealth and the Criminal Assets Bureau is also involved in the operation.

Incredibly, dim-witted members of the gang bought two new cars on Friday, days after a number of their cars were seized. Armed gardai stopped the men in the city and seized those cars as well.

Cllr Hearne added: “The guards are in this fight now. This gang know they’re hated now. The guards will get them.”

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/daly-gang-fights-drugs-patch-3738841

Daly gang fights for drugs patch.



Associates of slain criminal John Daly have joined forces in a bid to regain control
of their old drugs turf, we can reveal.

The gang, based in Finglas, North Dublin, has re-emerged in recent months and is letting rivals know they are back in business.

It is believed the criminal outfit is trying to take over an area of the city once controlled by assassinated RIRA boss Alan Ryan and his gang.

Armed robber Daly, 27, who phoned RTE’s Liveline radio show from his prison cell, was shot dead in Finglas in October 2007.

Gardai believe he was targeted on the orders of slain gang boss Eamon “The Don” Dunne after he tried to re-establish his patch following his release from Portlaoise Prison two months earlier.

His old associates struggled to maintain their powerbase, however, in recent months they have seen Ryan’s gang diminish completely and decided it was the right time to regain control.

A source last night said: “The gang that once ruled North Dublin was run by slain RIRA boss Alan Ryan.

"However, since his death the gang has continued to lose its power and that’s when Daly’s old crew decided it was time to muscle back in again.

“They have been throwing their weight around and letting Ryan’s crowd know they are back.

“They have also aligned themselves with other gangs to totally eradicate Ryan’s depleted set-up.

“They want to settle old scores too and take back the drugs turf they believe has always been theirs.”

The source added: “Ryan’s old gang are all but gone at this stage.

"The power they once possessed is gone and a number of members have even gone running scared in fear for their lives.”

On the night of his death Daly – who had been drinking with friends and family and after being refused entry to a number of city nightclubs – decided to bring a group home for a party.

As their taxi arrived in Finglas, another car pulled up alongside and an assassin blasted Daly repeatedly through the passenger window.

Cabbie Francis O’Neill was lucky to survive after he became trapped under the dying crook.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/c...on-of-a-handgun

Man jailed for possession of handgun is to be state witness in murder trial.

A Dublin man who is to be a State witness against his three co-accused charged with the murder of dissident republican Peter Butterly in an “unprecedented” case has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for the possession of a handgun

Today at the Special Criminal Court David Cullen (30), of Brackenwood Ave, Balbriggan pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of a 9mm calibre Beretta model 9000s semi-automatic pistol at the Huntsman Inn at Gormanston, Co Meath, on March 6th, 2013.

Last year Cullen and his co-accused Edward McGrath (32), of Land Dale Lawns, Springfield, Tallaght, Dean Evans (22), of Grange Park Rise, Raheny, and Sharif Kelly (43) of Pinewood Green Road, Balbriggan were charged with the murder of Peter Butterly.

Butterly, a 35-year-old father of two, was shot dead in the car park of the Huntsman Inn at Gormanston, Co Meath, on March 6th, 2013.

Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, for the State, this morning (Wednesday) said that Cullen’s plea was acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions and a nolle prosequi – a decision not to proceed - would be entered on the count of murder.

The court heard yesterday that David Cullen had made contact with gardai through his solicitor and indicated a willingness to give evidence on behalf of the prosecution.

On June 27 Mr Cullen gave a voluntary statement giving details of the offences and the involvement of certain people. The non-jury court heard that the Director wished to call Mr Cullen as a witness in the case against the three other accused.

Detective Inspector Alf Martyn, the officer in charge of the overall investigation, told Ms Ni Raifeartaigh that on the evening of March 5, 2013 a stolen Toyota Corolla car with false number plates and a green Opel Zafira were observed in the car-park of the apartment complex where Cullen lived.

He agreed that the following day at 1:55pm Peter Butterly drove in to the car-park of the Huntsman Inn in his grey Renault Laguna, having made arrangements to meet another man from Dublin there.

Det Insp Martyn agreed that two minutes later a Toyota Corolla was seen approaching the inn, and gardai observed the driver had bushy hair while the rear passenger windows were open.

He agreed that at about 2:05pm shots were discharged at Mr Butterly’s car and the victim himself when he attempted to flee. The Toyota Corolla then left the car-park at speed, turning left on to Flemington Road.

Det Insp Martyn agreed that the first garda on the scene found Mr Butterly lying in a corner of the car-park having being shot a number of times. Mr Butterly died immediately at the scene.

He agreed that a man referred to in court as “Mr A” then arrived at the scene saying he had arranged to meet Mr Butterly there.

Det Insp Martyn said a garda unit saw David Cullen walking from the direction of Gormanston College with a white plastic bag in his hand, and he was observed bending down to put an item from the side of the road in to the bag.

He agreed that Cullen was stopped and told to get on the ground, at which point he threw the plastic bag a short distance. The Toyota Corolla car was stopped a short distance away at a field gateway and the occupants were arrested, while the occupant of an Opel Zafira car was also arrested.

Det Insp Martyn agreed with Ms Ni Raifeartaigh that the firearm recovered was the subject of the charge and Cullen’s fingerprints were subsequently found on the plastic bag. Gardai who searched the Toyota Corolla found a black wig, firelighters, a can of petrol and a pair of black gloves.

Cullen was arrested outside the college and brought to Balbriggan Garda Station where he broke the SIM card from his mobile phone in two pieces. Det Insp Martyn agreed that Cullen was wearing two sets of clothes at the time, while a pair of blue latex gloves were also found in his pocket.

The defendant initially told gardai in interview that he had been walking to Gormanston College from his apartment in Balbriggan to ask about joining a gym in the college.

Cullen said he saw something being thrown from a passing car but did not know what it was and decided to pick it up. He denied knowledge of the Toyota Car parked outside his apartment block.

Det Insp Martyn told the court that there were ongoing discussions about how Cullen’s safety might be protected in the future but these had not come to finality. He said an application would be assessed and after this security would be provided.

He told the court that Cullen has previous convictions for assault causing harm, a road traffic offence and public order issues.

Det Insp Martyn agreed with counsel for the defendant, Mr Conor Devally SC, that Cullen’s situation was “unprecedented” and told the court that in 30 years of service this was his first time encountering something of this nature.

The witness agreed that Cullen has given a full narrative account of the activity of retrieving the weapon and what he initially offered up in interview with gardai was “patently” a “spurious story” about his presence on the road which “never added up”.

He agreed that Cullen became involved a short number of days before the killing, when he was asked to pick something up on a specific date.

Det Insp Martyn said that when he undertook to do this Cullen had no knowledge of the ultimate use of the weapon and only became aware a short time before the murder that the weapon was to be used in the shooting, at which point he believed he was unable to withdraw.

He agreed with Mr Devally that it was fair to say father-of-two Cullen may well have no further ties or access to his children in the future having regard to security arrangements.

Mr Devally submitted that Cullen’s role was something of a “clean-up” or “removal” of evidence. He told the court that Cullen had some difficulties in custody as he was of “independent mind” and these would be enhanced “by a rather marked degree” now.

Counsel said he had been asked to convey Cullen’s genuine remorse for having participated, however after the event, in this “ghastly killing” which had made a widow of somebody.

Mr Devally said it was often the case that Special Criminal Court had considered it worthy if an accused person renounced violence or a certain organisation, and submitted that the step taken by Cullen was “the most vivid renunciation possible”.

Presiding judge Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley, said the court noted that Cullen’s role was to collect the gun after the event, and this meant he would have disposed of an important piece of evidence in a serious offence had he been successful.

In those circumstances she said the court regarded the offence merited a sentence of ten years. However, she said in mitigation Cullen had pleaded guilty, had shown remorse, had a good work record and fully cooperated in respect of his own involvement.

Ms Justice O’Malley said the court had regard to the evidence of Det Insp Martyn that the case was of an “unprecedented nature”, and the mitigating factors meant the appropriate sentence was seven years.

She said where there was disassociation or renunciation of criminal activity it was the practice of the court to suspend a significant portion of a sentence, and it was proposed to suspend the last three-and-half years of Cullen’s seven year sentence, to date from when he was first arrested in March 2013.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/n...george-Hamilton

PSNI blitz on 'New IRA' and east Belfast UVF thugs in full swing.

New PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton has said that the police have made 29 arrests and conducted 102 searches in a crackdown on the East Belfast UVF.

Mr Hamilton confirmed that the PSNI have recovered guns, cash, drugs and contraband in their searches of premises - targeting illegal gaming machines, taxi firms and money laundering operations.

Mr Hamilton also said that 28 arrests have been made in the Larne and Carrickfergus areas, six of which have resulted in charges being brought, after the violent south east Antrim UDA 'show of strength' back in March in which hundreds of men brandishing weapons attacked houses.

In his first meeting with the Policing Board as new chief constable, Mr Hamilton said that the PSNI's "sustained operation against organised criminality, including some personalities connected to east Belfast UVF, continue."

He also revealed that three men associated with the 'New IRA', arrested in early June, have pleaded guilty to terrorist offences, with another man from Lurgan sentenced for possession of IED components and explosives.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/northern-ireland/teen-shot-in-west-belfast-rodney-parade

Teen shot in West Belfast.

An 18-year-old man is recovering in hospital after being shot in West Belfast.

The teen was shot twice, and his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

The man was taken to Rodney Parade in the city just before midnight before being shot in both ankles.

He is now recovering in hospital.

The PSNI have asked for anyone with any information to come forward.

http://www.herald.ie/news/bomb-left-at-gun-victim-sisters-door-30425388.html

Bomb left at gun victim sister's door.

BY KEN FOY – 12 JULY 2014 12:00 AM

The innocent sister of a man who was lucky to escape with his life when he was targeted in a botched assassination attempt had a pipe bomb placed at her door in a sinister attack.

Gardai are investigating all aspects of the pipe bomb incident at the woman's home in the Moneymore estate in Drogheda.

The threat emerged on Tuesday afternoon, ten weeks after her brother Shane Mooney (39) was shot and injured at his home in Dowth, Co Meath.

A motive for the incident in Drogheda this week has not yet been established but it may be linked to a previous pipe bomb attack in the same estate earlier this summer.

EVACUATED

A number of properties in the Moneymore neighbourhood had to be evacuated after the device was found.

The Army Bomb Disposal Team arrived on the scene at 1.40pm on Tuesday and road closures were put in place.

The device was made safe about 40 minutes later without the need for a controlled explosion and the area was declared safe.

The case was handed over to the Gardai. A senior source told the Herald that detectives are investigating whether this week's incident was linked to an incident last month where a pipe bomb was thrown through the front window of a house in the same estate.

While that improvised bomb was discovered at around 5am on June 1, it was several hours later before gardai were informed.

On that occasion, gardai confirmed that they became aware of the device at around 11am and called in an Army Bomb Disposal Unit.

Upon arrival it was discovered that the device had been moved to the front garden of the house.

Gardai evacuated the occupants of a number of surrounding houses and roads were closed.

CRUDE

A source said that both devices were "crude enough but capable of causing serious injury".

Meanwhile, it is understood that Shane Mooney is still getting treatment for the horrific injuries that he received in the failed assassination attempt at his rural home on April 27.

Mooney (39), was hit twice in the upper body and once in the leg at the house in the townland of Dowth near Slane at 9.45pm on the night.

In January 1999, he was convicted of malicious damage and given a three-month suspended sentence.

In February 2000, he was convicted of assault and fined €2,500, while in October 2002 he was convicted of threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour and ordered to pay €500 compensation.

dying to hear more about the russians up the north

http://www.herald.ie/news/pipebomb-thrown-at-home-close-to-childrens-hospital-30425727.html

Pipebomb thrown at home close to children's hospital.

BY ALAN O'KEEFFE – 12 JULY 2014 12:00 AM

a pipebomb thrown outside a house near Crumlin's children's hospital "could have been picked up by kids", residents said.

Gardai called in military ordnance experts after the explosive device was discovered outside the home at Errigal Road in the south Dublin suburb of Drimnagh.

An army bomb disposal team worked at the scene yesterday to make the bomb safe. Gardai said it was a "viable" bomb.

The house is situated very close to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

Roads were sealed off yesterday afternoon while a cordon was placed around the area during the military operation and a number of nearby houses were also evacuated. But the running of the hospital was not affected by the joint garda-military operation.

Last night, a man living in the house targeted by the bombers said he had no idea why his home was attacked.

He told the Herald: "It's a big shock. I haven't a clue why they did it."

dumbfounded

The 54-year-old grandfather, who lives in the terraced house with his partner, said: "I'm dumbfounded. They must have had the wrong address. We've done nothing."

He said his partner was at home around 3pm when she heard a clanking sound on the garden path in front of her door. She saw the device which had been thrown onto the path.

The man added that his grandchildren regularly visit his home and one could have picked up the bomb and have been seriously injured.

The pipebomb was made safe at the scene without the need for a controlled explosion. The component parts were taken away for further study before being handed over to gardai for a forensic examination.

Last night gardai were trying to establish a motive for the incident. The emergency began at 3 pm when "a metal bar" was discovered outside the house on Errigal Road.

The army bomb squad declared the area safe at 4.25 pm.

Bomb teams have been called out 82 times so far this year and made safe 30 viable improvised explosive devices.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/murder-hire-just-500-hit-3782202

Murder for hire at just €500 a hit.

Gardai at the scene of Gintaras Zelvys shooting this morning at the Greenogue Industrial Estate in Dublin
Hired hitmen from Eastern Europe are flying into Ireland to assassinate people for as little as €500.

The Irish Sunday Mirror has learned that Dublin gangs are using the military-trained gunmen because they are cheaper and deadlier than homegrown thugs.

They also have no criminal records here, making it harder for gardai to trace them if they leave DNA at the scene.

The mercenaries also use only new guns that have never been fired before – and they dump them once the job is done.

A source said Lithuanians and Russians were increasingly popular with mobsters in the capital.

They added: “At the end of the day, these guys are reliable, cheap and professional. They are military-trained and know how to use guns, unlike some of the guys here who have never held one in their hand, let alone fired one.

“The gunman who is hired flies into Ireland in the morning, carries out the shooting within a few hours and then flies home that night.

“As they are foreign, they are not on the Irish criminal database either, which is a bonus. They are unknown to gardai and come and go completely under the radar.

“They are also willing to carry out the shootings for as little as €500. It’s a lot more than what is offered for the same kind of work back in their home countries.”

The insider told how the hitmen’s popularity was based upon their reputation for getting the job done.

They added: “The gangs can be guaranteed the job will be carried out properly. They are ruthless but precise.

“A lot of gangs have learned the hard way when criminals who they hired to carry out assassinations were so high on drugs that they left vital evidence behind which led cops straight to them.”

The source said criminal Eastern European groups already in Ireland were instrumental in organising for the gunmen to fly into the country.

They told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “There are a number of very powerful and ruthless gangs from Eastern Europe based here.

“They work as middle men in a lot of cases, organising assassins from their home countries to carry out hits here.”

Over the past few years, a number of these gangs from Russia, Lithuania and Poland have set up bases in Ireland.

One of the most dangerous foreign criminals to establish a foothold in the underworld was the Lithuanian gangster Gintaras Zelvys, who was killed last year.

Gintaras Zelvys
The convicted rapist, 43, was shot multiple times in the chest after arriving at a cash-for-clothes recycling company in Greenogue Industrial Estate in Dublin.

Zelvys first came to Garda attention in 2006 when he and five other suspects were charged with theft, handling stolen property and assault.

In February 2007, at Monaghan Circuit Court, he was convicted of demanding money with menaces and stealing a car.

It emerged in the hearing that Zelvys had a string of previous convictions, including rape, robbery and breaking out of prison.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-28374375

Dissident republican suspects: Bail refused in Belfast case.

Three alleged dissident republicans were recorded talking about security force targets with a chance of "getting a kill", the High Court has heard.

The men also discussed weaponry and explosives and losing two assault rifles in an attack on police in north Belfast, prosecutors claimed.

Details emerged as one of the men, Alex McCrory, 52, was refused bail to attend his grand-daughter's baptism.

The judge said the request did not meet the criteria for compassionate bail.

Mr McCrory faces charges of conspiring with co-accused Colin Duffy and Henry Fitzsimons to murder members of the security forces and belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army.

He is further charged with attempting to murder police officers, conspiracy to possess firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life, and aiding and abetting the possession of a firearm.

The alleged offences cover a period between January and December last year.

Gun attack
Mr McCrory, of Sliabh Dubh View, Belfast, was arrested along with Mr Duffy, 46, from Forest Glade, Lurgan, and 45-year-old Mr Fitzsimons, of no fixed address, following the shooting incident on the Crumlin Road.

A police Land Rover and two other PSNI vehicles came under gun attack as they travelled towards Twaddell Avenue on 5 December.

Two AK47 rifles and 14 spent rounds of ammunition were later recovered along with a hijacked and burnt-out taxi.

"Examination of the vehicles fired upon revealed the police officers driving were extremely fortunate not to be seriously injured or murdered," a prosecution lawyer said.

She said the men were arrested on the basis of a secretly-recorded meeting in Lurgan the next day.

"This was clearly a leadership or command discussion regarding the IRA, focusing on the attack against police and the loss of two assault rifles," the barrister said.

Those present were said to have talked about whether the gunmen would have been recognised, before concluding it was unlikely as they had worn balaclavas.

'Not made public'
Criticism was also vented that the rifles had not been cleaned before the attack, the court heard.

"One of the guns jammed during the attack. That was information not made public and only available to people with knowledge of the shooting," the prosecution lawyer said.

All three men present were allegedly active participants in operational talks which also explored: future attacks and the availability of firearms and ammunition, finance and the organisation's future direction and the number of weapons and Semtex at their disposal.

They were also said to have talked about looking for targets and using AK47s because there was a high percentage of "getting a kill".

It was claimed that during the meeting Mr McCrory was recorded saying: "I wouldn't mind doing 15 years... if he's lying half-dead at least."

Following their arrests, all three accused remained silent during police interviews, the court heard.

Opposing bail, the prosecutor claimed the transcripts showed Mr McCrory was highly involved in the terror organisation and prepared to travel to the Republic of Ireland to secure weapons.

A defence lawyer said Mr McCrory only wanted out of prison for a number of hours to attend his grand-daughter's baptism.

He said it would be unfair to deny his application when Mr Fitzsimons was temporarily released previously for a Holy Communion ceremony.

With the accused all allegedly to have been under long-term surveillance, the lawyer claimed similar close monitoring would continue if his client was allowed out of custody.

"The height of the case is in relation to comments made while recorded under RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act)," he said.

"Those recordings will be challenged in terms of their admissibility. These are very live issues."

Refusing the application, the judge ruled that it did not come "anywhere close" to meeting the normal criteria for compassionate bail.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gangsters-molls-may-hold-key-to-murders-30444403.html

Gangsters' molls may hold key to murders
Gardai plan to break 'code of silence' to unlock unsolved crimes.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/n...ortion-activity

Russians step up drugs and extortion activity.

Organised crime gangs are set to muscle in on Ulster’s drug and extortion rackets.

The Sunday World has previously revealed how eastern European and Triad gangs already command a major slice of the action in Belfast, but it is understood that other foreign gangs already have their sights set on Northern Ireland.

One major gang dubbed The Russians control the drugs racket in Belfast, outmuscling the UVF to set up a series of brothels across the south of the city and take a stranglehold on the drugs trade.

Well placed sources have told us gang bosses are amazed at the drugs profits to be had in Belfast and have already beefed up their operation.

It is understood the gang operates at least six brothels but has been busy buying up vacant properties with the intention of expanding their sex empire.

Women are being trafficked regularly from eastern Europe and pressed into service in the sex industry. They are also being forced to courier drugs first into Dublin and then into Northern Ireland.

It is understood up to a dozen foreign nationals are now based in Belfast overseeing the criminal empire.

According to our source they have been taken aback at the success of their enterprise north of the border.

“They established themselves in Dublin first,” said our source.

“They had no real plan to move in on Belfast in any great number but they began to notice how many people were prepared to drive to Dublin from the north to buy their drugs got them thinking.”

The Russians have earned a reputation for the purity of their drugs.

“Dealers in Belfast are so greedy they were cutting their coke so much it was as little as two per cent pure, the Russians insist on 25 per cent purity – and they’re cheaper.”

Up to now they have restricted their operations to south Belfast and the city centre but the Sunday World can reveal they are looking to the north of the city and further afield with Fermanagh and Ballymena in their sights.

Ballymena has long had a reputation for being a major drugs hub.

And they will not be afraid to take on local paramilitaries just as they did on Sandy Row and the Donegall Road in Belfast where are now effectively working in partnership with the UVF.

The gang, which is heavily armed, moved into the Donegall Road area last year and immediately clashed with local paramilitary figures. One leading east European figure was lucky to escape with his life when an under-car booby trap fell from the underside of the vehicle as he drove off.

On another occasion a gang member narrowly avoided serious injury when a crossbow bolt was fired through the door of a house in the Village district.

The Russians set up an extensive drug dealing business and opened two brothels in the heart of the UVF controlled district

There have been numerous violent clashes with shots fired on a number of occasions before UVF commander Eddie ‘Onions’ Rainey and sidekick Colin ‘Meerkat’ Fulton called a truce and agreed to a sit down meeting.

In return for agreeing not interfere in their criminal activities, the Russians pay UVF a slice of the profits and keep them supplied with high grade cocaine.

The relationship is now so cosy the Russians even offered to “take out” three senior UVF figures who opposed the arrangement.

The Russians said they would use a hitman, based in Limerick, to travel north to assassinate three senior UVF figures opposed to the drugs trade.

richard.sullivan@nth.sundayworld.com

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/fit...t-30446352.html

Fitzgerald plans three new laws to crack down on dissident threat.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinio...y-30455666.html

Paramilitaries are the real enemy.

EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT – 24 JULY 2014

Every so often we get a chilling reminder of the way things were and how imperfect our peace really is. Near midnight on Tuesday in Londonderry, a self-appointed loyalist gang summoned a local man to a playground and shot him in both legs. It was a punishment shooting by appointment, a macabre aping of how dissident republicans have carried out similar attacks on the other city of the River Foyle.

After the level of terrorism that so many of us endured for decades, such attacks may seem of relatively little consequence. But they are not.

They are an affront to decent society. The people who carry out such shootings, be they from republican or loyalist backgrounds, have no right on their side.

They are criminals and what they do is – and should be – punishable by imprisonment. Quite simply those who engage in such violence do so to intimidate the communities they operate in. It is a warning to everyone to beware of running foul of the paramilitary groups.

They may pretend that they are doling out punishment against anti-social elements at the behest of their communities, but they are far from being neighbourhood policemen.

The shootings reinforce their control of areas and also allow them to engage in their own anti-social behaviour. It is well known that paramilitary gangs are behind much of the drug-dealing, racketeering and other criminal acts which blight so many working-class areas.

They are the real enemies of their communities, but their firepower and their callous and casual use of violence ensures that few are willing to speak out against them.

But these communities must speak out against violence like punishment shootings. Few businesses are going to invest in areas where such attacks take place and where there is an impression that paramilitaries rule the roost.

Anyone with information about those responsible for such attacks should give it to the police, even in confidence. That is the only way they will ever throw off the yoke of the terrorists.

free image hosting


A member of the travelling community was shot last night in a pub in Dublin in an attack with is being linked to a local dispute.

He suffered "graze injuries" when a lone gunman entered Campion's bar, Malahide Road, Dublin and targeted on Friday night.

The man who is from Dublin, was taken to hospital and has since been released.

The victim of this latest shooting is a traveller who lives in the local area.

Gardai are investigating if the shooting is linked to tensions with the travelling community.

A 35-year-old Dublin criminal has been found not guilty of murdering teenager Marioara Rostas in the city six years ago.

The 18-year-old girl died of four gunshot wounds to her head before her body was buried in a shallow grave, where it was discovered four years later.

Alan Wilson, a father-of-four from New Street Gardens in the city, had pleaded not (NOT) guilty to murdering Ms Rostas at Brabazon Street, The Coombe, Dublin between January 7 and January 8, 2008.

The five-week trial at the Central Criminal Court heard that the victim was an ethnic Roma from very poor circumstances in Romania.

She moved to Ireland at the end of 2007 and began begging with her parents and younger brother on the streets of Dublin.

On January 6th 2008, just a fortnight after her arrival here, the family was begging at the junction of Lombard Street and Pearse Street behind Trinity College. Her younger brother, Dumitru, testified that he saw her talking to a man in a car around 2 o'clock that afternoon.

This man told the then 13-year-old boy that he would take Marioara to McDonald's for food and be back in 10 minutes. The family never saw her alive again.

However, a very upset and frightened Mariora rang her brother in Romania the following day and cried for her 'Daddy to come get her'.

Her older brother, Alexandru, said that she said that she was out of town and began to read the letters from a street sign, but the phone cut off.

An investigation began but there were no developments for a number of months.

The investigation then led to the examination of a house on Brabazon Street. This had been the home of Alan Wilson’s sister, Maxine Wilson, and her partner, Fergus O'Hanlon, who was the accused man's friend at the time.

Despite the house having been set on fire that February, two rounds of ammunition and a number of bullet holes were found in a wall there, along with a lock on the outside of a bedroom door.

Dumitru also identified the silver Ford Mondeo in which he last saw his sister. The accused admitted owning this car, but denied driving it at the time.

Both Wilson and O'Hanlon, a convicted criminal, were arrested in October 2008 and questioned about the murder, but no more progress was made in the investigation until late 2011.

Then, while being questioned about another crime, O’Hanlon offered gardai information on the case, and in January 2012 led them to Kippure, a mountainous area on the Wicklow border.

Gardai first found an empty ready-made grave or bunker, but later found the teenager's body lying in a foetal position in a shallow grave. She was mummified in a lot of plastic tightened by duct tape. There was a pillowcase over her head and a knotted sheet wrapped around her legs.

The cause of her death was four gunshot wounds to her head.

O’Hanlon was then admitted into the Witness Protection Programme, was later granted immunity from prosecution and became the State's main witness in the trial.

He testified that on January 8th 2008, he got a call to return to home, where he said Alan Wilson came downstairs holding a firearm.

He said that the accused told him he wanted to show him something and brought him upstairs and showed him a dead girl with a hole in her forehead. O’Hanlon claimed that when he questioned Wilson, the accused replied that she was a witness to her brother being killed.

He said that he felt sick but helped his friend bury her body and later cleaned up the blood in his home.

"It was damned if you do and dead if you don't," he claimed in court.

He said he assisted the accused in preparing her body and placing it in a large lawnmower bag. He said the accused then put her in the boot of his Mondeo.

O’Hanlon said that they drove up the mountains to Kippure, where he said Wilson looked around for the bunker. He said he couldn't find it and that the two of them then dug the shallow grave. He claimed they buried the teenager and burned her belongings nearby.

However O'Hanlon was the subject of a number of days of robust cross examination by defence counsel Michael O'Higgins SC. Mr O'Higgins questioned his motives, noting that he had previously told gardai he hated Wilson and had been recorded saying that he had 'waited four years to f**k him over'.

The barrister also questioned his attitude to women, noting that he had previously been accused of breaking an ex-girlfriend's ribs and that the father of another ex-girlfriend had reported him to gardai for allegedly holding that girl against her will.

Mr O'Higgins showed the jury a photofit prepared from the description given of the driver of the Mondeo. O'Hanlon denied that it looked very much like him. He said he had refused to participate in a formal ID parade because he always refused such requests.

O'Hanlon agreed that he sometimes drove Wilson's Mondeo but denied driving it that day and picking up Marioara himself.

O'Hanlon insisted that he was telling the truth but Mr O'Higgins told the jury that it had got 'a master class in perjury' from him.

Prosecutor Seán Gillane SC said that, given the context, the evidence was never going to come from an altar boy. He said that O'Hanlon had already gotten away with his crime of assisting a killer when he decided to help gardai.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy warned the jury of 10 men and two women that O'Hanlon was an accomplice and a beneficiary of the Witness Protection Programme. He informed them that it would be dangerous to convict on the basis of his uncorroborated evidence.

The jury spent just two hours and 53 minutes deliberating today before reaching a unanimous verdict of not guilty of murder.

Wilson showed no reaction to the verdict before returning to prison to finish serving a seven-year sentence for a meat cleaver attack.

The victim's family left with support staff. Nobody stands convicted of their child's murder.

Dad-to-be Martin ‘the Viper’ Foley has been hailed a hero after saving the life of a man who was trapped inside a house that had been deliberately set on fire.

The 63-year-old has been praised for showing no fear in entering the house on Cashel Avenue in Crumlin, Dublin, last Sunday night despite a massive fire blazing inside.

He pulled a man who was trapped inside to safety and then threw several gas canisters, which were in danger of exploding, out the window.

The pensioner, who had been in the house when it was set on fire by a petrol bomb, was treated for shock and smoke inhalation by paramedics at the scene and will make a full recovery.

However, the fire caused considerable damage to three adjoining houses leaving them unfit for living in.

Gardai are investigating the incident but believe that two local men, who have been attempting to extort money from innocent residents, may have been responsible for the arson attack, which is being treated as attempted murder.

A source in the Fire Brigade said: “Martin Foley is a hero, no question. He didn’t hesitate to enter the burning building and help the elderly resident out. Not only that but by getting rid of the gas canisters he avoided a potentially lethal explosion breaking out.

“When he saved the man he waited around and spoke to us about what he had seen and the layout of the house and was very cooperative and helpful.”

The Sunday World recently revealed that despite not being too far away from collecting his state pension and being hit by an incredible 18 bullets in four murder bids, Foley impregnated his wife.

Foley turns 64 in November and his 38 year-old beau Sonia Doyle is understood to be over four months pregnant.

The colourful criminal has been joking with pals that his body will be donated to medical science when he finally kicks the bucket because he has confounded doctors’ expectations for so many years.

Foley and Sonia Doyle got married last November after a ten-year relationship. The intimate ceremony in Puerto Rico in the Canary Islands was only attended by a handful of people.

The pair of lovebirds have wasted no time in having a family. Foley already has two daughters who are in their late 20s from his first marriage to his deceased wife Pauline who passed away in January 2003.

Foley has told friends he cannot wait for the early morning feeds and dirty nappies and says he has a new perspective on the value of life because he has stared death in the face on so many occasions. The new arrival is some much-needed good news for Foley who was handed a bill for €916,960 by the Criminal Assets Bureau last month.

Two years ago the CAB launched an investigation into the criminal because of the actions of his notorious debt collection business.

Sonia Doyle is a director of ‘Viper Debt Recovery and Repossession Services Limited’ which is highly successful despite the claims of the company books.

Garda management were concerned that Foley was touring the country intimidating people into paying debts so CAB officials used the garda PULSE machine to track Foley’s business movements and used it to prove his company’s income was not declared correctly.

The Viper pockets 20 per cent of every debt he collects and also charges several thousand euro to take a case on in the first place.

He has become so busy over the last few years that he now employs around eight people full time.

Last year the accounts for the debt collection company revealed that it made a profit of just €833. The previous year the company lost €7,518. The accounts detailed revenues of just €20,290 up until September 2012.

However auditors said they could not independently verify these revenues because there was no cash book for the business.

The €916,960 declaration is for under declaration of income tax. The County Sheriff has the power to seize valuables from Foley including his home.

The Viper has 45 criminal convictions and is regarded by gardai as being involved in drug dealing and other serious criminal activities.

A police officer in riot gear stands near a barrier erected to prevent an Orange Order parade passing close to the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. Photograph: Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters


A protest against a year-long ban on a contentious Orange Order parade in north Belfast has united unionism like never before, a senior member of the loyalist marching institution has said.

The return leg of the parade by local Orangemen from Ligoneil passed off relatively peacefully, even though the loyalists remain banned from passing by the nearby republican Ardoyne district.

Unlike last year when dozens of police officers were injured in a barrage of missiles with water cannon and plastic bullets being fired to quell the riot, there was virtually no trouble at a barrier erected to prevent the Orangemen from marching up Woodvale Road and on to the Crumlin Road facing Ardoyne.

Instead, marshals from the Orange Order formed a cordon between local loyalists and bandsmen, and police lines preventing an outbreak of disorder.

There was a large security presence in the area with more than 40 Pangolin armoured police vehicles, two mobile water cannon and more than 1,000 officers deployed, many of them in protective body armour.

Addressing the crowds gathered on the loyalist side of the barrier, Spencer Beattie, the deputy grand master of the Orange Order for Belfast, said the cause of the Ligoneil Orangemen and the establishment of a "civil rights camp" in the area to highlight their demand to walk "had united unionism like never before".

Beattie repeated pleas from Orange leaders, mainstream unionist parties and the political organisations linked to loyalist paramilitaries that no loyalists should engage in any acts of violence in protest at the year-old ban on the parade.

Although the majority of loyalists dispersed from the Woodvale Road after the short speech, the Police Service of Northern Ireland maintained a large presence in the area. There was also a substantial police presence close to Ardoyne where about 100 republicans had gathered.

Tens of thousands of Orangemen, their bands and supporters took part in 17 demonstrations across Northern Ireland, on this the most sacred day in the Ulster Protestant calendar. The overwhelming number of the parades were non-contentious, with only a few opposed by nationalist residents because they pass by their areas.

Compared to 2013, this year's Twelfth of July celebrations were relatively peaceful across the region. The PSNI said six men had been arrested for offences including rioting and street disorder.

One man was stabbed in the early hours of Saturday after sectarian clashes on a bridge straddling the river Lagan in south Belfast. Up to 40 youths from rival Protestant and Catholic gangs clashed on the Ormeau Bridge at about 3am.

There were minor scuffles near Belfast city centre as another Orange Order feeder parade passed St Patrick's Catholic church in Donegall Street. A number of missiles were thrown from loyalist lines at police in nearby Union Street and mass goers in St Patrick's were caught outside the church as loyalist marching bands filed past.

The PSNI was investigating claims that a loyalist band broke a determination from the Parades Commission – the body that adjudicates on contentious parades in Northern Ireland – that barred music being played as the parade passed the church.

Sinn Féin welcomed the peaceful outcome to the banned parade on the Woodvale Road and called for talks to reach a long-term solution to the dispute.

A DUBLIN youth will be sentenced next month for his role in a gang attack and robbery of a fast-food delivery man who was dragged away from his car and beaten.

The 17-year-old boy, who has a string of prior criminal convictions, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of assault causing harm and robbery of the man, during the incident in Tallaght, on the evening of April 14 last.

In evidence, Garda David Jennings told Judge John Lindsay at the Dublin Children's Court that the delivery man had just got out of his car when he was approached by two youths who hit him in the face.

He was then “dragged” to a corner where his wallet, containing €50 as well as assorted cards, and his car keys were taken.

Gda Jennings said the man suffered a cut over of his eyes as well as facial bruising.

He also agreed with the defence barrister that the teenager was not one of the youths who had initially approached the victim. The court also heard the boy was arrested later and made admissions to gardai that he was involved.

The teenager, who was accompanied to court by a family member, had 17 prior criminal convictions for: drug possession, possessing a weapon, having an implement for use in a theft offence, failing to appear in court, obstruction of a garda, breach of the peace as well as dangerous driving and other motoring offences.

Judge Lindsay heard that the teenager is currently serving a sentence and could be released in November. The defence asked the judge to note that the youth has been diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder which had created problems for him. Since going in to a detention centre, he has been been attending classes and gym and has had a more “structured” life, the defence also said in their mitigation plea.

Judge Lindsay adjourned sentencing the teenager for three weeks to allow time for a probation report on the youth to be furnished to the court.

Another 17-year-old boy is also due to be sentenced next month for his role in the incident, while two other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty. They are aged 17 and 13 and are expected to go on trial in September.

Special directions had to be obtained from the DPP in relation to the youngest defendant as to whether his prosecution should proceed in light of his age.

The four cannot be identified because they are minors protected by the Children's Act's reporting restrictions.

Caroline Graham went missing in 1989

PSNI officers investigating the murder of a teenager who disappeared in 1989 have arrested a 53-year-old man.


Caroline Graham had been living in Portadown, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, when she vanished in 1989, aged 19.

The man is being questioned on suspicion of Ms Graham's murder and possession of a firearm, police said.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesman said: "Detectives from serious crime branch investigating the murder of Caroline Graham in Portadown in 1989 have arrested a 53-year-old man."

He was arrested in County Antrim on Friday morning and is being questioned at Antrim PSNI station

On Monday officers with specially-trained dogs searched a house at Hanover Street in the Mid Ulster town where Ms Graham had lived with her boyfriend.

Officers have previously carried out several searches in the town over the years, but Ms Graham's body has not been found.

A murder inquiry was launched in August 2012 after police said they had a number of new lines of inquiry.

Earlier this week forensic scientists were asked to examine items discovered by the search dogs.