GARDAÍ believe the killer of a 32-year-old unemployed single man tried to disguise the murder by setting fire to the victim’s apartment.

A LIMERICK gangland figure who sparked a major garda alert returned to the country last night following a holiday in Mexico.

ALMOST 100 taxi drivers have been banned from operating in the industry in the past three years because they are a potential threat to the public, official Garda figures have confirmed.

GARDA Commissioner Fachtna Murphy has announced a series of appointments at senior Garda management level.

AN ASSISTANT Garda commissioner is to be appointed to head policing in the southern region as part of a reshuffle of senior garda personnel.

SENIOR gardaí will meet today with the local joint policing authority in Limerick as a top garda takes charge of the Shane Geoghegan murder investigation.

TWO well-known gardaí serving in Cork and Limerick have been promoted to the rank of assistant Garda commissioner.

THE top ranks of An Garda Síochána will undergo a large revamp in the coming weeks as eight senior positions are filled.

THE organisation set up to oversee the regeneration of run-down council estates in Limerick have spent €500,000 on a CCTV system to which the Gardaí do not have direct access.

THE cash haul in the huge Garda Operation Platinum mounted to target Limerick’s feuding drugs gangs rose to €250,000 yesterday after further searches in the city.

CHILDREN as young as four are showing signs of troubled behavioural tendencies in crime-ridden Southill, Limerick, the local parish priest has warned.

THE law and order fight against Limerick’s feuding families will be a long drawn out one, the city’s most senior garda said yesterday.

A MAN arrested in Limerick early yesterday was found to be carrying a loaded handgun.

GARDAÍ yesterday arrested a teenager after two gunmen terrorised a Limerick community. They are looking for another man.

GARDA Commissioner Fachtna Murphy yesterday sent out a clear warning to well-heeled drugs pushers: “You will be pursued no matter what strata of society you come from.”

TWO detectives narrowly escaped death when a sniper hit their unmarked car with a burst of automatic gunfire as they drove through O’Malley Park, Southill.

A UNIQUE community- based scheme to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour was launched in Limerick yesterday.

Residents in some of Limerick’s troubled housing estates will no longer have to turn directly to gardai in the battle against anti-social behaviour.

A NEW initiative to tackle antisocial behaviour in Irish cities kicks off today in Limerick, when nine community coordinators take up duty.

A MAJOR reorganisation of senior garda management in the Mid-West kicks in today with Limerick getting its first detective superintendent.

GARDA Brian Kelleher was proud of two things: his family and his uniform, colleagues said yesterday.

UP to 30% of all shootings in the country now occur in Limerick, the city’s garda chief said last night.

BLANKET policing of Southill was demanded yesterday as the murder hunt continued in Limerick for the killer of part-time security worker Noel Crawford.

SIX people, including two women, were arrested in Limerick last night as part of a garda anti-feud operation.

THE parish priest of Moyross has appealed to people not to take the law into their own hands after a petrol bomb attack on a car left two children in a critical condition.

A LIMERICK gang has brought in reinforcements from England while shootings continued yesterday in the latest flare-up in the city feud.

SPIRALLING tit-for-tat feud shootings in Limerick over recent days have created a situation “fraught with danger” the city’s garda chief warned yesterday.

EXTRA armed garda patrols were deployed in Limerick yesterday as hostilities flared between two feuding gangs who have used a grenade and automatic firearms in recent attacks.

GARDAÍ in the Southern Region - which takes in Cork, Limerick, Kerry and Tipperary - have been joined by specialist recruits.

DRINK driving offences have risen dramatically over Christmas despite the massive publicity campaign to deter drivers from driving while intoxicated.

THE garda authorities are testing a new communications strategy to keep patrols out on the beat and away from behind the station desk.

THE self-proclaimed “scumbags” responsible for digging almost 500 holes on the playing pitch at Thomond Park on Wednesday afternoon left a note at the ground.

A Post Mortem is due to be carried out on the body of a newborn baby infant found in a rubbish skip in Co Limerick this morning.

INVESTIGATORS in Limerick now believe the fire which gutted Brannigans pub in Mulgrave Street was malicious.

A former recipient of a Scott Medal for bravery has been appointed to the most senior Garda position in Limerick.

A SPECIAL garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) should patrol Limerick permanently to tackle crime, former Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan said yesterday.

FOUR more people were arrested by Limerick gardaí yesterday in connection with the murder of 47-year-old John Ryan.

ARMED detectives are patrolling the northside of Limerick on a 24-hour basis following the gangland killing of John Ryan.

A LIMERICK man is in critical condition in hospital after being shot in the chest, but the attack is not linked to the city’s violent feud, gardaí said yesterday.

ONE of two men arrested yesterday in an operation against suspected members of the Real IRA served a long prison service for his involvement in an armed robbery that led to a businessman being shot.

TENSIONS were mounting in Limerick last night following violent scenes outside the city's circuit court as the search for two brothers who were abducted at gunpoint continues.

Gardaí were today entering the fourth day of a search for two brothers, missing since being taken captive at gunpoint in Limerick.