‘Drogheda has now become Bogota-on-boyne in the Republic of Narcos... I knew Keane was the victim because the poor lad is my first cousin’s grandson’
THERE’S outrage at the murder and dismemberment of Keane Mulready-woods but come the weekend they’ll be buying cocaine cut by the same hands that cut up this child’s body.
That’s why Drogheda has now become Bogota-on-boyne in the Republic of Narcos.
I was at the press conference in the Co Louth town’s Garda station the other evening when it was confirmed the body parts found scattered around Dublin were that of the 17-year old boy. I knew already as the poor lad is my first cousin’s
grandson. It was depressing because I’ve been going to similar press conferences since the late 1990s and I’ve been hearing the same thing.
The Chief Supt said it was a new low and he was right but it seems no matter how low they go, they can still go lower. Still, to murder and cut up a child as a grisly act of revenge to the rival gang would be extreme even if carried out by the Mexican or Colombian cartels.
I’m not blaming the gardai, they are doing their best.
In fact, you can’t drive around Drogheda for more than a few minutes without coming across an Armed Response Unit in their high-powered SUVS.
I met a detective the other day who just shrugged in despair at the latest atrocity but the reality is the gardai are being forced to fight a war they can’t win and the generals giving orders from on high, and some of them may very well be, know that’s the case. Actually I’ve been going to these press conferences since Veronica Guerin was murdered in 1996 and it’s not to say the situation has deteriorated, the gangs have won the drugs war.
The truth is the monsters who murdered Keane make the Gilligan gang who murdered Veronica look like boy scouts.
They declared their victory last Sunday night when they brazenly abducted a boy, tortured him and then sliced up his body.
I have no idea how much cocaine costs these days but there’s a lot of money to be made selling it and it is not
CHILD VICTIM Keane Mulready-woods your ordinary workers who are blowing their wages.
It’s the middle and upper-class drug of choice and I’m reliably informed they are buying it in vast quantities.
The bastards who sliced up poor Keane will cut it with everything from relatively harmless substances like caffeine and laundry detergent to deadly boric acid and even Fentanyl.
Like white-collar crime, the white powder is mostly for the big boys and girls and just as the fraud and tax dodging they engage in goes under the radar, so does their drug use.
That’s not to say the less well off don’t snort coke, they do, but it’s use will be restricted by the extent of their disposable income.
When did you last see a rich individual appear in court for cocaine possession or use?
Probably as often as you’ve seen them charged with financial crimes. The reality is all the pious pontifications from politicians about needing extra resources and social networks will not make one jot of difference when the demand for cocaine, and to a lesser degree cannabis, is there.
There’s a “Stand Together” rally in Drogheda next Saturday to highlight the disgust at the three murders which have taken place so far.
It’s a noble gesture, as were the marches in Dublin during the heroin epidemic.
And lets not forget how the gangs were going to be wiped out by CAB and tough new laws after Veronica Guerin’s murder.
And how many drug-related murders have there been since then Justice Minister Michael Mcdowell ludicrously claimed in 2004 a couple of recent shootings were the “last stings of a dying wasp”?
The gangs/wasps are now stronger than ever.
Society has two options – liberalise its use or continue to ask a police force to fight an unwinnable war that will involve another generation of disposable foot soldiers like Keane.
This may seem unthinkable but just a few years ago it was equally unthinkable that a child would be murdered and sliced up by a cocaine cartel as part of drug war in the country’s largest town.
In the evenings the children in Drogheda now look out for the arrival of the Garda chopper as it shines its spotlight down. This week they were looking for a dismembered boy and his killers.
But even when the guards destroy the feuding gangs in Drogheda – and they will – the demand for cocaine will ensure the blood circus rolls on to Navan, Kells, Mullingar, Athlone...
Drogheda is Bogota-onBoyne in the Republic of Narcos