Gardai fear gangs are preparing for turf war
By JIMMY GUERIN
Sunday August 25 2002
Recent drug busts point to a looming battle between rival gangs
A BLACK rope and a chain attempt to block the entrance of the now closed Slade Valley Equestrian Centre in the heart of the Dublin Mountains. Behind the rope is the frightening reminder that the drug business is booming and that there are many unknown distribution centres just like this one around our city dealing in drugs that are killing our youth.
This is not the first time an equestrian centre has been linked to drugs Jessbrook Equestrian Centre was home to John Gilligan , convicted drug dealer who was acquitted of the murder of Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996. There is no connection between Gilligan and Slade. Furthermore, Slade Centre (unlike Jessbrook) is only leased and Slade Valley Equestrian Centre is just a business name.
In 1996 Gilligan was found to have imported 20,000 kilos of cannabis during a 30-month period.
A garda who worked closely with the Lucan Team that investigated Veronica's murder said this week that their work was now being lost as the drug barons were re-emerging bigger, cleverer and more ruthless than before. "The investigation team at Lucan smashed the major gangs and ran the main players out of the country. Now the resources are not being targeted at drugs and these gangs, as was the case in 1996 and 1997. The only way to beat the barons is to set up a task force and give them whatever resources are required to beat them. We did it before and we can do it again."
He pointed out that the barons have learned from Gilligan's mistakes and are more careful hiding their money and moving it out of the country.
The business name certificate for the Slade Valley Equestrian Centre (registration number 216189) shows one of the owners as Ray Molloy with an address at Redgap Slade Valley Equestrian Centre, Rathcoole, Co Dublin. The business is described as a 'Livery Service'. The business was registered on March 20, 2002. It appeared to be trading well. It stabled up to 30 horses and was generating an income of about €6000 per week. They also traded in jump horses and some listed on price lists in the house were in the €50,000 price bracket. The business came to a sudden halt on Monday of last week when gardai raided the premises and found 150 kilos of cannabis. The area was sealed off and the following day a detailed search of the premises revealed bunkers containing a further 250 kilos of cannabis along with a quantity of cocaine.
Now, each day a helper comes to feed the horses. One gentleman who came to exercise his horse on Wednesday last was horrified to find garda tape sealing off the area and was shocked to learn from a garda at the entrance that this was a major drug distribution centre. He stared in disbelief as numerous gardai with pitchforks searched the 20-acre site.
Three people were arrested and questioned in relation to the drug find. The centre manager Ray Molloy was charged with possession of drugs for the purpose of supply last week. He was remanded in custody and was granted free legal aid.
His solicitor did not seek bail but did request the court order that his client be placed under observation while in Mountjoy. The court granted his request.
Molloy, a 30-year-old former doorman, was living with his partner at the centre. They lived in the Equestrian Centre in four rooms which had been converted into living quarters. They are expecting their first child shortly.
Informed sources estimate that the market has increased threefold since the mid-Nineties and gangs are competing to supply the ever-growing demand.
The search of the centre concluded on Thursday and one garda involved in the operation told the Sunday Independent: "This operation has been dealt a major blow." However, he conceded that the dealers would recover in a matter of weeks the cost of the seizure, which is substantially smaller than the reported street value.
Cannabis with a street value of €5m was recovered at the centre. This was not the only loss the gang suffered. On Saturday of last week a garda team, comprising five local units and the national drugs squad, carried out two lightning raids which led detectives to the centre at Slade Valley in Rathcoole Gardai, while delighted at the discovery, admit that the major players in this gang may not be convicted. It is believed the supplier is a former criminal who refused to leave Mountjoy on early release so that he could complete a degree course at the taxpayers' expense. He has set himself up in Amsterdam supplying the gang which controls the cannabis and cocaine market on Dublin's Northside.
He is also supplying the gang that has taken over from convicted drug dealer Christy Kane from Limerick. This notorious criminal from a well-known family was found guilty of possessing over €1m worth of cannabis last year. Kane is the criminal who told gardai that if they left him alone dealing cannabis then he would keep heroin out of an area known as the Island in Limerick. Associates of Kane's are believed to have continued the business that Kane built.
The increase in the number of seizures has led to increased friction among gangs who are convinced that they are being turned in by competitors who wish to increase their hold on the Irish market. The amount of arms that have been recently discovered confirms that many gangs are importing arms with their drug shipments. This was the same modus operandi that was used by Gilligan.
In the year before Gilligan's arrest there were close on a dozen gangland murders in Dublin alone and there are now fears that another gang war will break out.
- JIMMY GUERIN
Sunday, 25 August 2002
Thursday, 27 December 2001
Man shot dead in street by lone gunman
By Isabel Hurley and Martina Devlin
Thursday December 27 2001
A MURDER hunt was under way in Dublin last night after a man was gunned down while walking in the centre of Tallaght.
The man was shot dead by a gunman who approached him from behind.
Gardai from the station a few hundreds yards away were quickly on the scene but the man, who had not been identified late last night, is believed to have died on the spot.
The area was immediately cordoned off and gardai were believed to be looking for a silver car, thought to be a Peugeot, seen leaving the area. It is the second fatal shooting in Dublin in a week.
As detectives carried out a detailed search of the crime scene, Sgt John McGing, said there were witnesses to the shooting who were helping gardai. Among them was a woman who was walking very close to the victim when his killer struck. Despite her distress, she immediately contacted gardai.
Chief Supt Noel Smith, who left his home to attend the scene of the crime, described the killing as a "callous murder". He asked: "What kind of people would carry out something like this on St Stephen's Day?" While there appeared to be only one gunman, he seemed to have accomplices. "A car approached the man from behind and we don't know how many it contained, but there were at least three people in the car," Supt Smith said.
"One of the men got out and shot him from behind. We don't know how many times. He was hit in the head and died immediately."
Late last night, the body of the unidentified victim was still at the scene. He is described as in his late forties or early fifties, balding, with grey-to-white hair. Gardai redirected traffic away from the scene, where plastic sheeting had been placed over the corpse.
Detectives from the technical bureau at Garda Headquarters arrived to assist in the investigation and State Pathologist was also informed.
The shooting comes only five days after another brutal killing in the nearby suburb of Clondalkin. Simon Doyle was shot twice at close range by a lone gunman after he got out of his car in the early hours of Saturday morning. It is believed the victim had a number of previous convictions including one for assault and was suspected of drugs involvement.
The number of drugs-related killings has dropped recently, compared with last year, when fatal gangland shootings averaged almost one a month.
However, a man who was shot dead in the north-west of Dublin in November was thought to be the victim of a long-running feud between rival gangs seeking control over criminal activity in the Finglas/Cabra area of the city. The nephew of the November shooting victim had been killed in a gun attack almost exactly 12 months earlier.
- Isabel Hurley and Martina Devlin
Thursday December 27 2001
A MURDER hunt was under way in Dublin last night after a man was gunned down while walking in the centre of Tallaght.
The man was shot dead by a gunman who approached him from behind.
Gardai from the station a few hundreds yards away were quickly on the scene but the man, who had not been identified late last night, is believed to have died on the spot.
The area was immediately cordoned off and gardai were believed to be looking for a silver car, thought to be a Peugeot, seen leaving the area. It is the second fatal shooting in Dublin in a week.
As detectives carried out a detailed search of the crime scene, Sgt John McGing, said there were witnesses to the shooting who were helping gardai. Among them was a woman who was walking very close to the victim when his killer struck. Despite her distress, she immediately contacted gardai.
Chief Supt Noel Smith, who left his home to attend the scene of the crime, described the killing as a "callous murder". He asked: "What kind of people would carry out something like this on St Stephen's Day?" While there appeared to be only one gunman, he seemed to have accomplices. "A car approached the man from behind and we don't know how many it contained, but there were at least three people in the car," Supt Smith said.
"One of the men got out and shot him from behind. We don't know how many times. He was hit in the head and died immediately."
Late last night, the body of the unidentified victim was still at the scene. He is described as in his late forties or early fifties, balding, with grey-to-white hair. Gardai redirected traffic away from the scene, where plastic sheeting had been placed over the corpse.
Detectives from the technical bureau at Garda Headquarters arrived to assist in the investigation and State Pathologist was also informed.
The shooting comes only five days after another brutal killing in the nearby suburb of Clondalkin. Simon Doyle was shot twice at close range by a lone gunman after he got out of his car in the early hours of Saturday morning. It is believed the victim had a number of previous convictions including one for assault and was suspected of drugs involvement.
The number of drugs-related killings has dropped recently, compared with last year, when fatal gangland shootings averaged almost one a month.
However, a man who was shot dead in the north-west of Dublin in November was thought to be the victim of a long-running feud between rival gangs seeking control over criminal activity in the Finglas/Cabra area of the city. The nephew of the November shooting victim had been killed in a gun attack almost exactly 12 months earlier.
- Isabel Hurley and Martina Devlin
Thursday, 1 November 2001
Gardai raids on warehouses net £500,000 in stolen cars
By Tom Brady
Thursday November 01 2001
GARDAI have recovered stolen cars and jeeps worth more than £500,000 after raiding two provincial warehouses used by highly organised Dublin crime gangs.
All of the vehicles were taken in the greater Dublin region and were intended to be broken up for sale as parts to selected scrapyards around the country.
The warehouses, which also contained other high-value stolen goods, were uncovered after detectives from the Garda's stolen vehicles squad, based at Harcourt Square in Dublin, carried out a lengthy investigation into two car rings based in the capital.
Gardai said last night that pressure on the gangs had forced them to move their storage depots out of the Dublin area and into the provinces where the vehicles were being "chopped up" and prepared for delivery to scrapyard agents.
Detectives estimated that on the black market the vehicles would have fetched about half their retail worth as parts.
In a Limerick warehouse, the stolen vehicles squad, working with local gardai, recovered cars worth around £300,000 including one £100,000 Mercedes.
And in the latest raid detectives and gardai from the Cavan-Monaghan division swooped on a warehouse in Belturbet, Co Cavan, and recovered 14 vehicles that had all been stolen in the Dublin region in the past seven months. The vehicles ranged from top-of-the-market Landrover Discovery to Volkswagen Passat and Toyota Corolla cars.
A large quantity of alloy wheels, car engines, other vehicle parts and electrical tools were also recovered and the haul was estimated to be worth at least £200,000.
Some of the tools were still in their initial packing and were thought to have been part of a haul taken in a burglary of a premises in the Naas-Newbridge area recently.
The gangs involved in the Limerick and Belturbet depots operate separately, but gardai believe the members know each other. Each gang is about six-strong and, according to detectives, the racket is very carefully planned.
Gardai are satisfied they know the identities of the main players.
One detective said last night: "Moving the depots out of Dublin is a relatively new trend and the gangs had hoped that relocation would allow them to break up the vehicles and distribute them to scrapyards without attracting too much attention.
"But we have made a lot of progress with our inquiries in the past couple of weeks and are gathering evidence against the gangs involved."
Gardai are now trying to find owners for the unidentified vehicle parts and the sets of industrial tools while detectives are also trying to establish if other storage depots have been set up elsewhere in the State.
- Tom Brady
Thursday November 01 2001
GARDAI have recovered stolen cars and jeeps worth more than £500,000 after raiding two provincial warehouses used by highly organised Dublin crime gangs.
All of the vehicles were taken in the greater Dublin region and were intended to be broken up for sale as parts to selected scrapyards around the country.
The warehouses, which also contained other high-value stolen goods, were uncovered after detectives from the Garda's stolen vehicles squad, based at Harcourt Square in Dublin, carried out a lengthy investigation into two car rings based in the capital.
Gardai said last night that pressure on the gangs had forced them to move their storage depots out of the Dublin area and into the provinces where the vehicles were being "chopped up" and prepared for delivery to scrapyard agents.
Detectives estimated that on the black market the vehicles would have fetched about half their retail worth as parts.
In a Limerick warehouse, the stolen vehicles squad, working with local gardai, recovered cars worth around £300,000 including one £100,000 Mercedes.
And in the latest raid detectives and gardai from the Cavan-Monaghan division swooped on a warehouse in Belturbet, Co Cavan, and recovered 14 vehicles that had all been stolen in the Dublin region in the past seven months. The vehicles ranged from top-of-the-market Landrover Discovery to Volkswagen Passat and Toyota Corolla cars.
A large quantity of alloy wheels, car engines, other vehicle parts and electrical tools were also recovered and the haul was estimated to be worth at least £200,000.
Some of the tools were still in their initial packing and were thought to have been part of a haul taken in a burglary of a premises in the Naas-Newbridge area recently.
The gangs involved in the Limerick and Belturbet depots operate separately, but gardai believe the members know each other. Each gang is about six-strong and, according to detectives, the racket is very carefully planned.
Gardai are satisfied they know the identities of the main players.
One detective said last night: "Moving the depots out of Dublin is a relatively new trend and the gangs had hoped that relocation would allow them to break up the vehicles and distribute them to scrapyards without attracting too much attention.
"But we have made a lot of progress with our inquiries in the past couple of weeks and are gathering evidence against the gangs involved."
Gardai are now trying to find owners for the unidentified vehicle parts and the sets of industrial tools while detectives are also trying to establish if other storage depots have been set up elsewhere in the State.
- Tom Brady
Saturday, 27 October 2001
Leading suspect stays away as £8m drugs seized at port
By Tom Brady
Saturday October 27 2001
A SURVEILLANCE operation by Garda and Customs officers on a container with an £8m consignment of herbal cannabis was called off yesterday after a key figure in an international drug trafficking ring failed to show.
Customs officers moved in yesterday morning and seized the 40-foot container which had arrived at Dublin port on a ship from Antwerp on Tuesday.
The container was kept under watch as detectives hoped to trap a suspect alleged to be planning to transport most of the consignment to Britain.
But the operation was eventually abandoned and Customs officers announced their biggest single seizure of herbal cannabis.
This was the third consignment of the drug to have been smuggled into Dublin port in the past eight weeks.
This one originated in Pretoria in South Africa and went to Antwerp before being shipped to Dublin in pallets hidden among a shipment of dried prunes and sultanas.
A small portion of the shipment may have been designed for the home market where the drug is favoured by ethnic groups because of its potency but the traffickers were mainly using Dublin as a transit point for the British market.
High quality herbal cannabis is reckoned to be twice as potent as cannabis resin and has become more popular with regular users.
An initial shipment of three and a half tonnes of herbal was intercepted by Customs eight weeks ago but in consultation with the Garda national drugs unit it was decided to keep the consignment under watch while it was shipped to Britain where six people, including two Irishmen, were arrested.
A further shipment of one tonne was seized here a month ago and a man was arrested in connection with the find.
This resulted in increased co-operation with the South African authorities in an effort to pinpoint the trafficking gang behind the trail to Dublin.
Yesterday's consignment totalled slightly under four tonnes, or 3,992 kilos, which was valued by Customs at £14m but gardai estimated it was worth about £8m on the streets in Britain.
Customs said one man had been arrested but gardai said they had nobody in custody in connection with yesterday's find.
The initial plan was to put surveillance on the shipment at the port while gardai tried to link a suspect to the shipment.
Detectives said last night an investigation was on-going but it was thought that the traffickers had "gone to ground" following the announcement of the find.
The seizure was attributed by Customs officers to a combination of intelligence and profiling techniques.
The three seizures provided the latest evidence that South African smuggling gangs are using this country as a gateway to Britain as well as supplying the local market.
Irish links to the traffickers have been established in the past by detectives and surveillance on flight patterns at Dublin airport have resulted in the seizure of more than 40 smaller shipments of herbal quantities following the arrest of South African suspects.
Inquiries also revealed close connections with trafficking gangs in Britain, particularly in relation to herbal cannabis which is more popular there than here although detectives estimate it will become more prevalent here in coming months and its use will no longer be confined to the ethnic communities.
- Tom Brady
Saturday October 27 2001
A SURVEILLANCE operation by Garda and Customs officers on a container with an £8m consignment of herbal cannabis was called off yesterday after a key figure in an international drug trafficking ring failed to show.
Customs officers moved in yesterday morning and seized the 40-foot container which had arrived at Dublin port on a ship from Antwerp on Tuesday.
The container was kept under watch as detectives hoped to trap a suspect alleged to be planning to transport most of the consignment to Britain.
But the operation was eventually abandoned and Customs officers announced their biggest single seizure of herbal cannabis.
This was the third consignment of the drug to have been smuggled into Dublin port in the past eight weeks.
This one originated in Pretoria in South Africa and went to Antwerp before being shipped to Dublin in pallets hidden among a shipment of dried prunes and sultanas.
A small portion of the shipment may have been designed for the home market where the drug is favoured by ethnic groups because of its potency but the traffickers were mainly using Dublin as a transit point for the British market.
High quality herbal cannabis is reckoned to be twice as potent as cannabis resin and has become more popular with regular users.
An initial shipment of three and a half tonnes of herbal was intercepted by Customs eight weeks ago but in consultation with the Garda national drugs unit it was decided to keep the consignment under watch while it was shipped to Britain where six people, including two Irishmen, were arrested.
A further shipment of one tonne was seized here a month ago and a man was arrested in connection with the find.
This resulted in increased co-operation with the South African authorities in an effort to pinpoint the trafficking gang behind the trail to Dublin.
Yesterday's consignment totalled slightly under four tonnes, or 3,992 kilos, which was valued by Customs at £14m but gardai estimated it was worth about £8m on the streets in Britain.
Customs said one man had been arrested but gardai said they had nobody in custody in connection with yesterday's find.
The initial plan was to put surveillance on the shipment at the port while gardai tried to link a suspect to the shipment.
Detectives said last night an investigation was on-going but it was thought that the traffickers had "gone to ground" following the announcement of the find.
The seizure was attributed by Customs officers to a combination of intelligence and profiling techniques.
The three seizures provided the latest evidence that South African smuggling gangs are using this country as a gateway to Britain as well as supplying the local market.
Irish links to the traffickers have been established in the past by detectives and surveillance on flight patterns at Dublin airport have resulted in the seizure of more than 40 smaller shipments of herbal quantities following the arrest of South African suspects.
Inquiries also revealed close connections with trafficking gangs in Britain, particularly in relation to herbal cannabis which is more popular there than here although detectives estimate it will become more prevalent here in coming months and its use will no longer be confined to the ethnic communities.
- Tom Brady
Saturday, 9 June 2001
Drugs war feared after crime boss killed at door
By Ralph Riegel
Saturday June 09 2001
GARDAI in Cork fear a vicious drugs war after a leading gang boss was gunned down at his front door.
Kieran O'Flynn (39), died when a lone gunman called at his door for the second time at Thorndale Estate off Dublin Hill at 11.15pm on Thursday.
The victim was a brother-in-law of Michael Crinion (35), a father of four who was gunned down in a drugs-related killing outside The Clannad pub, in 1995.
No one was ever charged with this slaying. Yesterday, a huge garda manhunt was launched amid fears of reprisals from O'Flynn's crime gang colleagues.
At least three shots were fired through the front door of the Thorndale Estate house.
Gardai believe a professional assassin was involved as the killer returned to the house after the victim's daughter answered the door to an earlier call.
It is understood the victim was answering the door when he was struck in the upper body by two bullets which passed through the door's glass and wood panels.
The killer then stepped into the hallway to fire a third bullet into his victim as he lay on the ground. The killer then fled on foot and is believed to have been picked up by an accomplice in a stolen car.
Last night Mayfield gardai, who have set up a special incident room to concentrate on the murder probe, were examining a Toyota car which was found burned out yesterday afternoon. The car had been stolen last month from Cork's College Road. Following the shooting, the emergency services were called and the victim was rushed to the Mercy Hospital. However, despite efforts by surgeons to save him, the man was pronounced dead a short time later.
The victim's distraught partner, Alison Murray, with her children, had found the father of three lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
The couple had moved into the Thorndale Estate two years ago after having lived previously on the southside.
Yesterday, State Pathologist Dr John Harbison conducted a post mortem and the victim's home remained sealed off as gardai and forensic detectives carried out an examination of the scene.
Kieran O'Flynn was well-known to the Garda and served a drugs-related sentence in the early 1990s after being found on board a boat with almost 50 kilos of cannabis.
Gardai last night declined to comment on the possible motive for the killing.
However, it is suspected that the assassination was linked to a turf war between rival southern drug gangs.
Gardai have appealed to the public for information about a grey Toyota Starlet, registration 98 C 5984.
- Ralph Riegel
Saturday June 09 2001
GARDAI in Cork fear a vicious drugs war after a leading gang boss was gunned down at his front door.
Kieran O'Flynn (39), died when a lone gunman called at his door for the second time at Thorndale Estate off Dublin Hill at 11.15pm on Thursday.
The victim was a brother-in-law of Michael Crinion (35), a father of four who was gunned down in a drugs-related killing outside The Clannad pub, in 1995.
No one was ever charged with this slaying. Yesterday, a huge garda manhunt was launched amid fears of reprisals from O'Flynn's crime gang colleagues.
At least three shots were fired through the front door of the Thorndale Estate house.
Gardai believe a professional assassin was involved as the killer returned to the house after the victim's daughter answered the door to an earlier call.
It is understood the victim was answering the door when he was struck in the upper body by two bullets which passed through the door's glass and wood panels.
The killer then stepped into the hallway to fire a third bullet into his victim as he lay on the ground. The killer then fled on foot and is believed to have been picked up by an accomplice in a stolen car.
Last night Mayfield gardai, who have set up a special incident room to concentrate on the murder probe, were examining a Toyota car which was found burned out yesterday afternoon. The car had been stolen last month from Cork's College Road. Following the shooting, the emergency services were called and the victim was rushed to the Mercy Hospital. However, despite efforts by surgeons to save him, the man was pronounced dead a short time later.
The victim's distraught partner, Alison Murray, with her children, had found the father of three lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
The couple had moved into the Thorndale Estate two years ago after having lived previously on the southside.
Yesterday, State Pathologist Dr John Harbison conducted a post mortem and the victim's home remained sealed off as gardai and forensic detectives carried out an examination of the scene.
Kieran O'Flynn was well-known to the Garda and served a drugs-related sentence in the early 1990s after being found on board a boat with almost 50 kilos of cannabis.
Gardai last night declined to comment on the possible motive for the killing.
However, it is suspected that the assassination was linked to a turf war between rival southern drug gangs.
Gardai have appealed to the public for information about a grey Toyota Starlet, registration 98 C 5984.
- Ralph Riegel
Wednesday, 2 May 2001
North's 'CAB' set to target criminals and paramilitaries
By Fergus Black
Wednesday May 02 2001
ALMOST 200 people in Northern Ireland who enjoy lavish lifestyles from the proceeds of crime are to be targeted by a new agency similar to the Republic's highly successful Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
This was revealed as members of a Northern Ireland Assembly ad hoc committee on the proceeds of crime yesterday visited the CAB in Dublin to see how the Irish agency operates.
Members of the committee met top officers in the CAB, including its chief bureau officer, Chief Supt Felix McKenna and its legal officer Barry Galvin.
The all-party committee, which was set up last month, has until May 28 to make its submission to the British Home Secretary on proposed new UK legislation to set up a Criminal Assets Recovery Agency.
But the committee wants to see the new agency modelled on the Republic's successful CAB which has been in operation here since 1966 and which has recovered millions of pounds in criminal assets.
Committee chairman Alban Maginness said they wanted to deprive criminals of the benefits of crime.
Evidence given by the RUC to Assembly members revealed 180 people that the RUC could immediately identify as criminals who enjoyed lavish lifestyles.
A recent survey identified 78 criminal gangs operating in the North, about 44 of which were paramilitary gangs and the remainder were criminal.
Criminal activities such as fuel smuggling, cigarette smuggling, money laundering, VAT scams and drugs will top the agenda of the new body, which he hopes would be up and running in a year.
Mr Maginness described yesterday's visit to Dublin by the committee as a valuable lesson in learning and co-operation between North and South.
- Fergus Black
Wednesday May 02 2001
ALMOST 200 people in Northern Ireland who enjoy lavish lifestyles from the proceeds of crime are to be targeted by a new agency similar to the Republic's highly successful Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
This was revealed as members of a Northern Ireland Assembly ad hoc committee on the proceeds of crime yesterday visited the CAB in Dublin to see how the Irish agency operates.
Members of the committee met top officers in the CAB, including its chief bureau officer, Chief Supt Felix McKenna and its legal officer Barry Galvin.
The all-party committee, which was set up last month, has until May 28 to make its submission to the British Home Secretary on proposed new UK legislation to set up a Criminal Assets Recovery Agency.
But the committee wants to see the new agency modelled on the Republic's successful CAB which has been in operation here since 1966 and which has recovered millions of pounds in criminal assets.
Committee chairman Alban Maginness said they wanted to deprive criminals of the benefits of crime.
Evidence given by the RUC to Assembly members revealed 180 people that the RUC could immediately identify as criminals who enjoyed lavish lifestyles.
A recent survey identified 78 criminal gangs operating in the North, about 44 of which were paramilitary gangs and the remainder were criminal.
Criminal activities such as fuel smuggling, cigarette smuggling, money laundering, VAT scams and drugs will top the agenda of the new body, which he hopes would be up and running in a year.
Mr Maginness described yesterday's visit to Dublin by the committee as a valuable lesson in learning and co-operation between North and South.
- Fergus Black
Sunday, 8 April 2001
Drug gangs' spate of turf war killings
Special report: drugs in Britain
Tony Thompson, crime correspondent
The Observer, Sunday 8 April 2001
Drug barons from two of Britain's most crime-ridden cities - Liverpool and Glasgow - have forged an uneasy alliance to traffic millions of pounds worth of heroin, ecstasy and cocaine across the UK and Ireland.
Last week, four Scots, a Liverpudlian and an Irishman were arrested in Dublin following a bloody street battle with gardai. Several police officers were injured. The gang, which had been under observation for three months, included notorious members of the Liverpool and Glasgow underworld. They were caught with six kilos of heroin worth more than £2.5 million.
The seizure - the largest in Dublin for two years - is expected to disrupt supplies in the city. A Garda source said: 'Over the past two years we have noticed that overseas gangs, particularly those from the Liverpool area, have been trying to muscle in on the market here.'
In recent years both Liverpool and Glasgow have lost major gangland figures: Curtis Warren, the multi-millionaire heroin baron from Liverpool is currently serving a lengthy sentence in a Dutch prison while Paul Ferris, the man who took control of Glasgow's underworld following the demise of the Thompson clan, is in prison on firearms charges.
A number of other high profile arrests and seizures in the past two years left Scottish gangs lacking reliable suppliers and allowed the Liverpool-based firms to move in. The supply and distribution networks that were set up proved so sophisticated that they soon expanded into supplying drugs further afield.
The new alliance first emerged during a year-long surveillance operation by the National Crime Squad into the activities of Merseyside man Anthony Parkinson who had allegedly been supplying heroin and ecstasy to Glasgow-based Ian McAteer.
During the police operation, McAteer fell out with Liverpudlian Warren Selkirk, whom he had met in prison some years earlier and who had begun working as a drugs courier.
Fearing he was becoming too much of a liability, McAteer lured Selkirk to Crosby Marina in north Merseyside. Selkirk never returned. His body was found a few days later. He had been shot in the head four times and once in the chest. In his right hand he was clutching a plastic shopping bag full of dog excrement - a sign of McAteer's contempt for his victim.
Once arrested, McAteer threatened to shoot a number of police officers as well as anyone who stood as a witness against him. At least two members of the gang have been given new identities under the Witness Protection Programme in return for testifying against their former colleague.
After his conviction for murder at Liverpool Crown Court last week, it emerged that McAteer had been charged with a previous gangland killing in which a man was stabbed 57 times. He walked free from a Scottish court after a 'not proven' verdict.
Operation Kingsway, the original NCS investigation into the Liverpool-Glasgow connection concluded earlier this year when Parkinson and 10 others were convicted of supplying and distributing heroin and ecstasy.
The recent arrests in Dublin show the network has remained intact. But with rival factions continuing to operate in both cities, police fear a new wave of gangland killings.
Last week the charred bodies of two small-time crooks were discovered in a field in Merseyside following a brutal gangland execution. George Price and Mark Thompson were found face down alongside one another close to the town of Formby. Thompson, 30, had been stabbed in the chest before being shot in the back of the head. Price had been shot in the head several times. Both bodies had been doused in petrol before being set alight.
The deaths are being investigated by a new murder squad, the result of a major re-organisation within Merseyside Police which aims to ensure teams of highly experienced detectives are on hand at the start of a murder investigation.
The killings were the second double murder to take place in Liverpool in the past three years. They are also the latest in a fresh spate of gang warfare. In February 19-year-old Hussein Obad was shot dead in front of his young son. Obad was the prime suspect in a murder which had taken place a year earlier and was also set to be questioned by police over an incident three weeks before he was killed in which a nightclub bouncer had been shot. Obad's murder was the fifth shooting in three weeks.
Liverpool's underworld last hit the headlines in 1996 when a gangland war sprang up after the shooting of David Ungi. Six shootings took place in seven days as rivals battled for control of nightclub door security contracts.
The shootings led to Merseyside becoming one of the first British police forces to sanction officers openly carrying firearms in order to combat gun crime.
Liverpool is rapidly becoming the major distribution centre for heroin in Britain. Last month a separate operation by the NCS recovered 60kg of the drug in a single swoop.
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