The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Limerick Chinese Triad gang make move into Kerry
A POWERFUL, internationally linked, Chinese Triad gang is becoming a main player in Kerry’s criminal underworld The Kerryman can reveal.
The Triad gang – which has its base in Limerick city – is moving to take control of many criminal enterprises once run by the now defunct McCarthy/Dundon gang.
This includes Kerry’s drug market which has operated in a power vacuum since the death of the McCarthy/Dundon gang’s local kingpin in 2014.
The Asian gang – a branch of the Sun Yee On Triad which has a presence across the UK and Europe – has been operating in Limerick since the early 1980s. Though a discreet operation – at least in Irish criminal terms – the gang has grown into a major force in the Irish underworld and is a well known part of Limerick’s crime world.
Its main areas of operation are drug smuggling and dealing; people trafficking; illegal gambling and protection rackets.
The protection rackets mainly target and ‘tax’ Chinese businesses and members of the Asian community. On several occasions in recent years people trafficked into Ireland by the gang have been found working in Kerry businesses, with the employers often coerced into hiring them.
Typically the family controlled Limerick Triad operate under a veil of secrecy and – unlike the McCarthy/Dundon’s – they are not known for overt violence. However, they have been linked to several vicious killings including the murder of a Chinese chef – who was cut down by a cleaver and hammer wielding gang – in Patrickswell in 2002.
The gang also has close working ties with a Birmingham-based Vietnamese drug gang who have been linked to several huge cannabis growing operations – including several in Kerry – that have been uncovered by gardaí.
In the last two years the Limerick Triad has increased its focus on Tralee and some of its known associates have taken control of a number of business premises and residential properties in the town. They have also acquired a number of residential properties across North Kerry.
Some of the properties are known to be used for prostitution and also as illegal gambling dens for the Chinese community.
Sources familiar with the drug trade in Tralee and north Kerry have also confirmed the gang has struck up working relationships with number of local Irish and Eastern European drug dealers who are now peddling the Triad’s drugs.
These drugs are primarily potent cannabis, ecstasy and, so called, ‘head shop’ drugs.
Gardaí say they are aware of the Triad’s operations but senior sources admit that the culture of secrecy and fear that surrounds such Asian gangs means it is very hard for them to make major inroads in their investigations.