Major search to try to find INLA leader

November 1987

A dragnet is thrown around Muirhevnamór, as the biggest single search operation ever mounted in Dundalk is undertaken in the hunt for ‘Border Fox’, Dessie O’Hare.

Gardaí, backed up by armed detectives and soldiers, seal off the 700-house estate to search for the man believed to be leader of the gang who kidnapped Dublin dentist, John O’Grady.

O’Hare is in Dunleer when he fires shots into a pub and at a take-way, after a row with his wife, Claire.

The next day, his car is found abandoned in the grounds of Dromiskin national school, and the village is combed for clues as to his whereabouts.

The manhunt then switches to Dundalk, and a cordon is placed around the town’s largest housing estate.

Checkpoints, manned by uniformed guards, supported by the army, are set up on every road leading into Muirhevnamór. All vehicles are checked.

Meanwhile, a larger force of armed special branch and task force detectives begin a systematic comb through the estate.

Each house is searched, and for most of the day, an Air Corps helicopter hovers overhead, to lend assistance if necessary.

There is no sign of O’Hare, and with a few exceptions, neither is there any hostility shown towards gardaí, who are delighted with the reaction they get from people.

The special squad assembled in Dundalk, is also responsible for searches in Dromiskin, and Oldcastle.

A lot of information is received from members of the public, and is being checked, but there is nothing yet to pinpoint O’Hare’s location.