Sunday 29 October 2006

'All out war' expected in Mountjoy after attack on crime boss

Sunday Tribune

Prison of"cers predict 'terrible bloodshed' after The General's brother, Michael Cahill, is singled out
John Burke Crime Correspondent
PRISON staff at Mountjoy jail are predicting a state of "all out war" among hardened prisoners following an attack in recent days on one of the most feared Dublin crime bosses by a Limerick prisoner. The attack is just one incident in a dramatic surge in violence at the north Dublin city facility in recent weeks.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that armed robber Michael Cahill . . . brother of murdered gang leader Martin 'The General' Cahill . . . was brutally assaulted by a prisoner from Limerick.

One well-placed prison source said that the attack was "hugely significant."

Cahill's status among inmates is akin to an Italian mafiosa 'made man' and nobody has dared attack him previously.

The incident occurred in the 'circle' area . . . the open central hub of the prison . . . indicating an unprecedented boldness to the violent assaults among inmates. However, it is understood that while the prison service recently spent thousands of euro installing new CCTV in the circle area, the camera type put in place was a 'roving camera' and the incident was completely missed by the recorded footage.

Senior prison sources told the Sunday Tribune that the attack on Cahill (47) is expected to spark a major outbreak of violence and tit-for-tat attacks . . . with many fearing that a fatal incident is now almost inevitable. "This guy has never been touched before. Nobody would have dared.

Officers and prisoners are expecting terrible repercussions and bloodshed, " one officer told the Tribune.

Cahill is serving sentences for assault and armed robbery, including one incident in which he spat vomit at a garda. He has over 26 convictions for offences, including firearms possession and drugs offences.

The renewed fears of violence come just two-and-a-half months after the murder of prisoner Gary Douch, who was beaten to death by a fellow inmate in an overcrowded cell. Douch was resting on a mattress on the basement cell floor when his attacker began to punch and kick him without provocation. Douch's killer then challenged the other five cellmates to attempt to sexually assault him.

The inmate who carried out the fatal attack had been released from the Central Mental Hospital back into the care of Mountjoy prison just weeks before the killing.

Just five days before Douch was beaten to death in the basement of Mountjoy, Nigerian national Goodwill Udechukwu was stabbed and assaulted by a group of up to 10 men on the first day of his life sentence for the murder of his wife.

Since the murder of Gary Douch, it is understood that an average of one violent incident per day . . . approximately 80 since the 21-year-old Dubliner's killing in August . . . has been logged by prison staff. The day after the attack on Michael Cahill, prison officers recovered a prison-made knife, which had a seveninch blade, in one inmate's cell. It is suspected that this may have been intended for use in a reprisal attack. Other knives recovered in recent weeks include some with blades as long as 12 to 15 inches.

While some knives are illicitly manufactured inside the jail, many are thrown over the wall and collected by inmates.

One prison source said that it was important to note that the knives recovered were found after making their way into prisoners' cells. "These were not intercepted by prison officers at the point of entry. We got lucky in recovering them, but it is just a matter of time before someone throws a gun and ammunition over the wall for pre-arranged collection. The problem is that serious, and prison officers are intensely fearful for their safety and the safety of the prisoners."

The present escalation in violence is being driven by a number of factors, wellplaced prison staff told the Sunday Tribune. Rival Limerick factions who have been transferred to Mountjoy, including bitter enemies among the DundonMcCarthy and Keane gangs, have allied themselves to rival factions among a number of Crumlin and Finglas groupings.

However, one of the main driving forces behind the rising violence is the suspension of prison activities, in particular workshops and other activities. TheSunday Tribune has learned that the jail library opened for just three days during the entire month of July, for example. Major tensions have arisen as prisoners congregate in open areas, without diversions and activities to occupy their time.

It is estimated that of the 420 to 430 prisoners in Mountjoy, only around 50 are occupied with activities, including seven in the kitchen and a few dozen in the only functioning workshop area under D Base.

The present tension increases the likelihood that prison officers will proceed with industrial action. The Prison Officers' Association (POA) and the Irish prison service (IPS) met on 26 July last to discuss what staff believed was a significant lack of resources being invested in manpower and security measures.

The IPS gave staff representatives assurances that extra officers would be drafted into the jail at that emergency meeting.

However, it is understood that, while over a dozen prison officers have left Mountjoy in the past two months, none of the 23 training graduates who were deployed into the prison service in the same period were sent to the jail.

Following the murder of Gary Douch in August, the POA sought the declaration of a state of emergency at Mountjoy to allow extra staff to be drafted in to counter escalating violence. However, the IPS refused the request. The IPS is currently refurbishing wings A2 and A3 in Mountjoy, which had been previously declared as uninhabitable. However, it is understood that no in-cell sanitation is being put in place in the refurbished wings, which means that prisoners will continue the practice of slopping out. At the time Gary Douch was killed, there were over 520 inmates in the jail. This has recently been reduced to around 430. However, one well-placed prison staffer told the Tribune that tackling the overcrowding issue "only scratches the surface of the [violence-related] problems" in the jail.

Governor John Lonergan has also recently been critical of conditions at Mountjoy. In an interview with the Sunday Tribune near the time of the Douch killing, he said that 80% of inmates in Mountjoy were addicted to heroin.

It was "almost impossible" to restrict the distribution of drugs amongst the prisoners, he said. "Mountjoy is 156 years old and the building has not changed one bit since 1850, " he said.

"There is no way it is an adequate prison for the year 2006."

A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service (IPS) yesterday said that the figures compiled independently by staff did not tally with IPS records. "Flashpoints will occur in a system in which over 60% of people are in prison for violencerelated offences, " he said. The spokesman added that new measures to commit prisoners to Wheatfield and the Midlands jails, as well as 24-hour security arrangements for prisoners under threat of assault, were among major recent enhancements to prison security.
October 29, 2006

Dublin's heroin kingpin held in Holland

Sunday October 29 2006
JIM CUSACK and
MAEVE SHEEHAN
THE leader of Ireland's biggest heroin trafficking gang, which has been involved in a bloody feud that cost nine lives in the past five years, was arrested in Holland yesterday.

Heroin and weapons were seized by Dutch police when they arrested the 25-year-old Dublin criminal, a woman and two others in the Dutch port of Rotterdam yesterday morning.

The police were acting on a tip-off from detectives at Kilmainham Garda Station in Dublin, and the sting is directly linked to the massive €11m heroin cache seized by gardai last week.

The man is believed to have fled Ireland with his girlfriend after gardai netted the single biggest drugs seizure in Dublin last Tuesday.

The gang leader, from south Dublin, heads one of the most ruthless criminal organisations in the capital.

"We can confirm that an arrest has taken place in Holland, as a follow-on from investigations based at Kilmainham Garda Station into the recent seizure of heroin in Dublin," said Det Supt PJ Browne who is in charge of the operation.

The criminal who comes originally from Loreto Road in the south-inner city has risen to prominence in recent years, having started in the drugs trade in his mid-teens.

He has been spending more time in Holland since the last deadly outbreak of feuding between his gang and their former associates at the end of last year.

He has escaped several attempts on his life.

Gardai are particularly concerned that both gangs have been buying more deadly weapons, as there is no sign of the feuding coming to an end.

About 53kg of heroin and 25kg of cannabis were discovered in the Aras na Cluana apartment complex in Clondalkin last week. Gardai also found a Heckler and Koch sub-machine gun which the gang had imported with the drugs.

A 22-year-old man who was renting the apartment since May turned himself over to gardai since the seizure. He is being questioned this weekend.

Sources said the Crumlin gangster's girlfriend also rented an apartment in the same complex.

"The scale of the find is worrying evidence of the increased demand for heroin in Ireland. And gardai in provincial cities such as Galway, Cork and Waterford are reporting a rise in heroin usage," said Cormac Gordon, Chief Superintendent of the National Drugs Unit.

The trend is borne out by the latest crime figures, compiled by the Central Statistics Office, which show that drug dealing offences were up more than 25 per cent, while manufacturing and importing drugs has almost doubled.

The gang behind last week's heroin seizure in Dublin is believed to owe its European suppliers over €1m, and may face execution if they fail to meet their debt.

Gardai believe their Dutch suppliers may have links to the Russian mafia.

The Dublin gang, which has been involved in a bloody feud for the past five years with another south-city-based gang, is also searching for people to blame for the seizure.

Senior gardai described it as "basic, good detective work" by a number of young gardai from Pearse Street Station in Dublin, who were on surveillance duty as part of Operation Anvil in the city last week.

Garda sources said they had already had indications that the gang behind the Clondalkin heroin haul had begun to panic about their failure to meet their debts to their ruthless suppliers.

"We anticipate there will be trouble over this," one senior sources said.

After gardai from Pearse Street raided a cocaine mixing operation in a hotel room in the city centre in 2001, which led to further seizures, the gang split up in an acrimonious row, with members blaming each other for the seizures.

The gang split in two and began fighting.

The first murder in the feud was that of Declan Gavin who was stabbed to death in August 2001.

In a series of tit-for-tat murders since - culminating in three murders within a week last November - more than nine people have been killed and others have narrowly escaped death in dozens of shootings.

The discovery of the Heckler and Koch gun, one of the most powerful weapons of its kind, is an indication that the heroin gang was preparing for even more deadly feuding in the future.

The only other group ever to have imported a weapon of this kind - which is normally used by special forces including the Army Ranger Wing - was the IRA.

Dublin's heroin kingpin held in Holland

Sunday October 29 2006
JIM CUSACK and
MAEVE SHEEHAN
THE leader of Ireland's biggest heroin trafficking gang, which has been involved in a bloody feud that cost nine lives in the past five years, was arrested in Holland yesterday.

Heroin and weapons were seized by Dutch police when they arrested the 25-year-old Dublin criminal, a woman and two others in the Dutch port of Rotterdam yesterday morning.

The police were acting on a tip-off from detectives at Kilmainham Garda Station in Dublin, and the sting is directly linked to the massive €11m heroin cache seized by gardai last week.

The man is believed to have fled Ireland with his girlfriend after gardai netted the single biggest drugs seizure in Dublin last Tuesday.

The gang leader, from south Dublin, heads one of the most ruthless criminal organisations in the capital.

"We can confirm that an arrest has taken place in Holland, as a follow-on from investigations based at Kilmainham Garda Station into the recent seizure of heroin in Dublin," said Det Supt PJ Browne who is in charge of the operation.

The criminal who comes originally from Loreto Road in the south-inner city has risen to prominence in recent years, having started in the drugs trade in his mid-teens.

He has been spending more time in Holland since the last deadly outbreak of feuding between his gang and their former associates at the end of last year.

He has escaped several attempts on his life.

Gardai are particularly concerned that both gangs have been buying more deadly weapons, as there is no sign of the feuding coming to an end.

About 53kg of heroin and 25kg of cannabis were discovered in the Aras na Cluana apartment complex in Clondalkin last week. Gardai also found a Heckler and Koch sub-machine gun which the gang had imported with the drugs.

A 22-year-old man who was renting the apartment since May turned himself over to gardai since the seizure. He is being questioned this weekend.

Sources said the Crumlin gangster's girlfriend also rented an apartment in the same complex.

"The scale of the find is worrying evidence of the increased demand for heroin in Ireland. And gardai in provincial cities such as Galway, Cork and Waterford are reporting a rise in heroin usage," said Cormac Gordon, Chief Superintendent of the National Drugs Unit.

The trend is borne out by the latest crime figures, compiled by the Central Statistics Office, which show that drug dealing offences were up more than 25 per cent, while manufacturing and importing drugs has almost doubled.

The gang behind last week's heroin seizure in Dublin is believed to owe its European suppliers over €1m, and may face execution if they fail to meet their debt.

Gardai believe their Dutch suppliers may have links to the Russian mafia.

The Dublin gang, which has been involved in a bloody feud for the past five years with another south-city-based gang, is also searching for people to blame for the seizure.

Senior gardai described it as "basic, good detective work" by a number of young gardai from Pearse Street Station in Dublin, who were on surveillance duty as part of Operation Anvil in the city last week.

Garda sources said they had already had indications that the gang behind the Clondalkin heroin haul had begun to panic about their failure to meet their debts to their ruthless suppliers.

"We anticipate there will be trouble over this," one senior sources said.

After gardai from Pearse Street raided a cocaine mixing operation in a hotel room in the city centre in 2001, which led to further seizures, the gang split up in an acrimonious row, with members blaming each other for the seizures.

The gang split in two and began fighting.

The first murder in the feud was that of Declan Gavin who was stabbed to death in August 2001.

In a series of tit-for-tat murders since - culminating in three murders within a week last November - more than nine people have been killed and others have narrowly escaped death in dozens of shootings.

The discovery of the Heckler and Koch gun, one of the most powerful weapons of its kind, is an indication that the heroin gang was preparing for even more deadly feuding in the future.

The only other group ever to have imported a weapon of this kind - which is normally used by special forces including the Army Ranger Wing - was the IRA.

Thursday 26 October 2006

Gardai close in on drugs gang

By Tom Brady

Thursday October 26 2006
GARDAI expect to make an early arrest in connection with the record haul of heroin found in a Dublin apartment complex.

Detailed checks yesterday established that the drugs haul consisted of 54 kilos of heroin, with a street value of €10.8m, and 40 kilos of herbal cannabis, worth €80,000.

A search for two men, who jumped 25 feet from a second-floor apartment to evade arrest, was extended throughout the city and surrounding counties last night.

Senior garda officers believe they have identified one of the men as a 22-year-old drug dealer from Ballyfermot.

He is regarded as a minor "player", who is part of one of the biggest drug trafficking gangs in west Dublin.

Detectives suspect that members of this gang combined with criminals associated with one of the feuding gangs in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area to organise the heroin shipment.

They believe one of the masterminds is leader of a mob involved in a bitter row with rivals over the past five years.

The row arose over the garda seizure of a drugs haul from a hotel in Pearse Street in the centre of the city in 2001 and the recriminations resulted in eight deaths in tit-for-tat killings, including three murders late last year.

Gardai fear there could be further recriminations as a result of the latest find as the organisers try to find out who was responsible for tipping off the gardai about the apartment haul.

The garda raid on Tuesday night was carried out by unarmed members of the crime task force in the south central division and the drug haul they recovered was "beyond their wildest dreams".

Officers said last night that task force members had not waited for armed back-up as they had not anticipated the extent of the shipment hidden in the apartment in the Ard na Cluaine complex at Yellow Meadows, off Nangor Road, in Clondalkin.

As gardai closed in on the second floor apartment, two men inside fled and jumped to safety. Last night detectives were working on the identity of the secondsuspect.

Garda technical experts carried out a minute examination of the haul and the apartment to find clues to the identity of others involved with the shipment.

The heroin was found in the apartment while the cannabis was hidden in one of three vehicles seized by the gardai.

Also recovered was a Heckler and Koch machine gun, a silencer, thousands of rounds of ammunition and a .38 Smith and Wesson specials and magazines for Lugers and Glock machine pistols.

A couple of hundred euro in cash was also found along with a mixing agent and weighing scales, as the heroin was being prepared for distribution on the streets of west and south Dublin.

The heroin haul is the biggest so far in the State and is worth more on the streets than the combined seizures in 2003, 2004 and last year.

The find was made as part of Operation Anvil, an anti-crime initiative which has been extended nationwide.

Detectives from several national units have joined the investigation in an effort to find and charge those responsible for importing the drugs into the country.

- Tom Brady