Dublin criminal linked to feud quizzed on shooting
A DANGEROUS criminal centrally involved in a feud in Coolock, Dublin, was last night being quizzed over a double shooting in north Dublin.
The 31-year-old and a 33-yearold associate were arrested after burning out a getaway car used in the attempted murder of two men at an industrial estate in Swords yesterday.
It is the second time both criminals have been arrested for a serious gun crime after being detained by detectives last July over a foiled hit.
Sources hailed the latest arrests as “highly significant” and detectives are now working on bringing a case against the mobster and his close associate.
“They are both linked to organised crime and centrally involved in a feud in and around Coolock which has claimed five lives to date,” a source said.
Yesterday morning two men, both aged 39, were injured when a gunman opened fire as they were sitting in a blue Mercedes at Killeek Lane, St Margaret’s, Swords, at around 11.30am.
The man in the driver’s seat, who is originally from Baldoyle, was struck once in the head and four times in the chest before being taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.
The victim in the passenger
seat, from the Ashtown area, suffered less serious injuries after being shot at least once.
Neither man has any serious criminal convictions and detectives are attempting to establish a motive for the double shooting.
It happened shortly before midday and gardai were alerted to a black Citroen believed to have been used in the shooting.
Meanwhile, the scourge of violent crime has blown up as a major election issue in the wake of the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was forced to defend Fine Gael’s reputation as “the party of law and order” amid a spate of vicious incidents around the country.
Mr Varadkar’s remarks came
as he visited the 17-year-old’s hometown of Drogheda, expressing his revulsion at the murder and mutilation and vowing the perpetrators would be put “behind bars”.
Gardai were yesterday continuing to search for the teen’s mutilated torso and carried out raids on the fortified compound of gang boss Cornelius Price, in Gormanston, Co Meath.
Fianna Fail was scathing of Fine Gael’s record, with Jim O’Callaghan accusing Mr Varadkar’s party of doing “virtually nothing” to tackle gang crime.
In the town with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan yesterday, Mr Varadkar assured the community the Government is “100% behind them”.