Gardai search quarry for missing couple
Arrest as CAB carries out raids on gang ‘linked to murders’
GARDA divers yesterday searched a big quarry and carried out raids targeting a gang “linked” to the murder of a couple.
The water unit scanned the flooded Mells Quarry in Co Louth as the Criminal Assets Bureau raided other properties in the Drogheda area.
The gang – with bases in Drogheda, Dublin and border areas – is linked to a notorious violent criminal.
Gang members are suspected of involvement in the murders of Willie Maughan, 34, and his 21-year-old Latvian girlfriend Ana Varslavane.
They were last seen in April 2015 after they were believed to have been abducted by the gang who feared they were in possession of information about another murder.
There are also suspicions the same gangsters were involved in the killing of Benny Whitehouse in Balbriggan.
A source said: “The murder of the couple was an incredibly callous act. Their bodies have never been found.”
While the quarry search was under way a man was arrested as gardai carried out a series of raids yesterday.
FOCUS
While the main focus of the operation was Drogheda, searches also took place in the neighbouring counties of North Dublin, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan.
CAB was assisted by the Garda Emergency Response Unit, Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Revenue Customs and local gardai.
During the 21 raids cash and suspected stolen property including two caravans, a high-spec Mercedes Benz, garden tools, cannabis and cocaine and a Rolex watch were seized. Documents and mobile phones were also held as gardai chase the gang’s money.
A freezing order has been made on a substantial sum, understood to be around €100,000, in a financial institution account.
A source said: “These raids are only half way through the process of a long-running CAB investigation. Their criminal antics are well known but a profile of their financial activies have been developed by CAB analysts and this has caused these raids. “Orders seizing property and cash have been made but this is only part of the broader fight against them.”
One suspect, a notorious violent thug, had been jailed for an attack on an officer at a Garda station. The thug suffered a brutal beating last year and there is a €100,000 contract on his head by an opposing gang.