GARDAI RAID HOUSE IN HUTCH MURDER PROBE
Suspect ‘was on the run in Turkey’
ARMED gardai have swooped on a house connected to a gangster who has been linked to the murder of a Hutch family member.
Thomas “Nicky” Mcconnell, a vicious convicted thug from the Ballymun area of North Dublin, is suspected of involvement with the Kinahan cartel.
Mcconnell, who is in his 30s, is believed to have been on the run from other gangsters in Turkey in recent years following the murder of Gareth Hutch outside his Dublin home last May.
It is understood armed officers acting on intelligence moved in on the home of a female relative of the feared criminal.
A source said: “Yesterday morning members of the Emergency Response Unit raided a house in Ballymun – it’s the home of a female relative. They were looking for Nicky in relation to some of his feud activities and other crimes. He has been out of the country the last two years but has been spotted in and around his home patch.
“People in the area have been very concerned with news he is back – he is a super EXPENSIVE watches, cash, a car and drugs were among items seized in a number of raids by the Criminal Assets Bureau yesterday morning.
The searches took place in western and southern areas of the capital, South County Dublin and Wexford.
Gardai from the Dublin Metropolitan Region Special Crime Task Force and Revenue’s Customs officers assisted in the raids.
The searches were understood to be focused on a criminal gang based in South Dublin.
A Garda spokesman said: “Approximately $1,500 and £250 in cash was seized violent criminal and has a big connection with the Kinahans.”
Mcconnell has a number of previous convictions and has served a threeyear prison term for threatening to kill a young mother who he put in the boot of his car as she collected her son from school. He has also been jailed for having €16,000 of the synthetic drug snow blow at his home in October 2010. Gareth Hutch along with a 2014 Audi A6 motorcar, three watches, one Rolex and two Tag Heuer, computer equipment, mobile phones, documents and a small quantity of cannabis and cocaine.”
He added the searches in Dublin were in three residential homes, while in Wexford the focus was a holiday home which is where the drugs were found.
Items seized are being examined by investigating officers and Criminal Assets Bureau staff.
The car was taken under the provisions of proceeds of crime legislation.
No arrests were made in connection with the raids. Watches