Glock handguns and ammo found in swoop on cars

Irish Herald

By Charlie Mallon and Lisa Anne Crookes

Tuesday August 12 2008

Four Glock handguns, the favourite weapon of the crime gangs, have been found after a garda surveillance operation.

Two men were arrested after the Organised Crime Unit intercepted two cars in Dublin's Clondalkin area. Along with the guns, they found 100 rounds of ammunition and four magazines.

Meeting

Garda sources indicated that those arrested were merely "delivery men" and were probably on their way to a meeting with members of a Blanchardstown criminal gang.

Those detained are aged 35 and 40-years-old. The younger man is from Thornville Estate in Kilbarrack and has a number of minor road traffic convictions.

The 40-year-old is from the Raheen Park area of Ballyfermot and has been before the courts several times on public order charges, burglary and offences connected with the care of horses.

The arrests are significant in that they demonstrate again the movement of the deadly weapons across the city with low level offenders being used as couriers.

The Glock pistol is the favoured weapon of the gangs because of its size. Its manufacturers boast that among the small arms of the world it's the best.

Detectives from several top units have maintained an obvious presence in the Clondalkin, Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard areas following a gangland-style shooting behind Cherry Orchard Hospital earlier this month.

The men were stopped as they were driving separate cars on St Bridget's Road in Clondalkin Village yesterday afternoon. They had been under surveillance by members of the Organised Crime Unit who swooped on the two cars and made the arrest at about 4pm.

St Bridget's road is a quiet, residential area of Clondalkin and the daylight raid stunned local residents.

In an attempt to bring growing criminality in the capital under control, gardai have again upped their patrols and intelligence network and the results are starting to show.

Gardai were releasing few details of the arrest for operational reasons .

The suspects are being held at Clondalkin garda station where they were being questioned last night and again this morning.

They can be held for up to 72 hours under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

The West Dublin suburb has seen an increase in both garda and media attention in recent weeks since the shooting of a 20-year-old local man Mark Fagan over the August bank holiday.

In a gangland-style hit, Fagan was taken to a field in the West Dublin suburb where he was shot twice by a gang of hoods.

Members of the garda elite Emergency Response Unit were drafted in after the man was shot having been lured to the field close to Wheatfield Prison and Cherry Orchard Hospital.

- Charlie Mallon and Lisa Anne Crookes