Gardaí were last night hunting down the head of an organised crime network after arresting his girlfriend and six gang members in a massive “shakedown”.

AN elderly couple narrowly escaped with their lives after a grenade was thrown into their kitchen and exploded.

THE country is experiencing a gangland and drugs crisis, with entire communities facing intimidation on a regular basis, a major drugs conference has heard.

GARDAÍ are preparing for an escalation in violence linked to gangland feuds in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area of south Dublin.

A NEW generation of violent young criminals has sparked a second gang war in an area already blighted by a deadly feud.

SOME of Dublin’s top drug gangs are renting expensive apartments in leafy suburbs of the city through legitimate frontmen.

A NUMBER of men are expected to be charged this morning in connection with last Monday’s gangland shooting in which a man was lucky to escape with his life.

A GANG hitman was arrested yesterday after shooting a doorman in the face because he had been refused entry twice.

Investigations are continuing into the murder of a suspected Irish drug dealer on Spain's Costa Del Sol yesterday afternoon.

GARDA drug units need to work full time on drugs and not be diverted to investigate other crimes, the country’s top drug officer has said.

ALL of a sudden, the switch has been turned on in Dublin’s criminal underworld.

GARDAÍ fear further bloodshed in a gangland feud after the murder of a young man yesterday.

GRACE was one of seven in a family of 13 that became entangled with heroin.