A notorious criminal who is linked to three brutal gangland murders and was the subject of a garda manhunt that lasted for over a year was caught just minutes after he was observed sipping on a drink in a north-Dublin pub.
It is not known why details of the arrest operation involving the criminal were kept top secret, but it is believed that he has been locked up for the past fortnight because he has been unable to get bail.
Described as "highly volatile and dangerous", the criminal - who had spent months on the run in England - is currently on remand on charges not linked to his suspected murder spree.
The Herald has learned that despite having a number of major underworld enemies, the north-Dublin man - aged in his early 30s - is not on a prison protection landing and has been mixing freely with other inmates in the Dublin facility he is being held in.
Sources said that he is suspected of "major involvement" in three gun murders stretching from 2005 to 2010, as well as a string of armed robberies and non-fatal shootings.
Heavily-armed detectives pulled him from a vehicle he was travelling in shortly after he was seen drinking in the pub late last month.
The criminal has served numerous short prison sentences in the past and has been heavily involved in gang feuding, especially in the Darndale and Coolock areas.
Among the murders gardai have questioned him about is the death of Tallaght criminal Mark Byrne (below, 29), who was shot dead outside Mountjoy Prison.
Sources said that he masterminded Byrne's murder just minutes after the victim was released from jail on temporary release after the two men became involved in a bitter prison row in May, 2005.
In 2008, Byrne's inquest heard that his killer stood over Byrne who was on all fours trying to scramble away when he was killed.
The killer shot the man in the back and, as his body flipped over with the force of the impact, shot him again in the head. The hitman then checked to make sure Byrne, from Kilcarraig Green in Tallaght, was dead.
Another gruesome murder the gangster is suspected of being involved in is that of rival criminal David 'Fred' Lynch (26) in Darndale in March, 2009.
Lynch, from Ferrycarrig in Coolock, had previously sustained serious injuries after being shot outside a pub in Ballymun in October, 2006.
His body was found in a pool of blood in wasteland near the Newtown Court apartments, off Belcamp Lane, by a woman walking her dog in the area.
The jailed psycho is also the chief suspect for the murder of Noel Deans in Coolock in January, 2010, as part of a bitter drugs dispute.
