http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/new-anti-drugs-movement-vows-4918294New anti drugs movement vows to kick dangerous crime gang out of Sligo.
Ciaran Kelly who has set up a group targeting drug dealers in the Sligo area.
A new anti drugs movement has waged war on a dangerous crime gang and vowed to kick them out of the north-west.
The group, which claims to have 1,000 members, says Dublin criminal Mark ‘The Guinea Pig’ Desmond moved to Sligo several months ago, where he is helping a local dealer collect debts.
Anti Drugs Movement (ADM) president Ciaran Kelly says homes have been targeted by the mob and official death threats have been given to four members of his group.
Now 46-year-old Republican Mr Kelly claims that people are fed up with the mob and has vowed to strike back.
“We are going to stop this Dublin gangster. He was run out of Dublin by the IRA and he set himself up in Sligo.
“He has been spotted here for the last six months and he has linked up with a local drug dealer.
“We are going to run him out of Sligo back into whatever hole he crawled out of. The people in the town are sick of it.”
The ‘Guinea Pig’ remains the chief suspect for the double murder of Darren Carey, 20, and Patrick Murray, 19, in December 2000.
The two men were shot in the head and dumped in the Grand Canal at Karneystown, Co Kildare, between December 19, 1999, and January 10, 2000. The killings were drug-related.
Desmond, who is originally from Lally Road, Ballyfermot, was charged with the murders but never convicted.
More recently associates of Desmond were linked to the murder of James Kenny McDonagh -- whose body was found dumped in the Dublin mountains two years ago.
A senior source explained that Desmond moved to Sligo town in 2014 where he has been regularly spotted in the company of convicted drug dealer Barry Young, 29. Young previously served a six-year sentence after he was caught collecting cannabis that was stashed in a graveyard.
Sligo drug dealer Barry Young
The town’s drug industry was previously run by the notorious Irwin brothers but senior sources say Young has filled a vacuum left by their absence.
Mr Kelly explained that his group have been targeted on three occasions by associates of Young and Desmond.
Some members of the ADM, which claims to be unarmed and non-political, are former pals of murdered Real IRA chief Alan Ryan.
Aaron Nealis, who was shot in the leg by the same gunman who killed Ryan, is one local who remains under constant threat from the drugs gang.
In March a masked and armed gang tried to break into his Sligo.
Former sea captain Mr Kelly said gardai have delivered notice of official ‘death threats’ to himself, Nealis and two others.
However he insisted that they are not intimidated by the gang.
“We don’t fear these gangs. They are just a bunch of thugs. They can intimidate a drug user on the streets but we have no fear of them.”
Mr Kelly, whose son Wayne died in suspicious circumstances nine years ago, said: “We will not stop until they are out of Sligo.”
“We are determined that this town will not become a safe haven for people that deal with these drugs gangs
“Anyone that is involved in any way whatsoever with these criminal gangs, we will target them.
“We are not an armed group, that would be illegal. We are not an IRA group.”
Mr Kelly, who is orginally from Co Waterford, added: “This is not about all the youth that have been lost in this war already. This is about the kids that are going to be lost if we don’t do something.
“We cannot, no longer stand by and watch these criminal gangs, and watch them operate with what seems like immunity.
“We cannot accept it, it is totally and utterly unacceptable.”
He continued: “We see that we have no choice ourselves but to stand and fight back.”
A senior source explained that gardai in Sligo are bracing themselves for an all-out war in the small town.
“This is a powder keg waiting to explode. You have two sides who are unwilling to back down and this could end very badly.”
