Nearly 50 criminals in jail over Limerick feud
“They are serving sentences of up to life. Hopefully some more will be sent away in the near future,” Chief Superintendent Gerry Kelly said.
Although serious crime in Limerick has dropped significantly in recent weeks Chief Supt Kelly said full-time armed units will remain in place in the city.
“This is a very big commitment but the 24-hour armed cover will stay in place until we get to a more acceptable level of normality,” said Chief Supt Kelly.
He said the garda helicopter unit had been of immense value in tracking the movements of known criminals and in intelligence gathering.
Much of the city’s garda resources have gone into feud-related investigations and round-the-clock armed units are on duty in certain potential flash points.
Earlier this year, Chief Supt Kelly told members of the city council that one third of all shooting incidents in the country happened in Limerick.
A major drive to tackle the use of guns has also yielded huge results.
“We are now down from one third to about 21% of all shootings in the country.
“In the circuit court recently we had 10 convictions for firearms offences. A lot of effort is going into that and that is why shootings are down dramatically,” he said.
He said this year to date, more than 60 firearms of all types have been found in searches.
Files relating to four murders committed in the city this year have been sent to the DPP.
“We had 10 murders in 2001 and now we are down to four this year,” he said.
Chief Supt Kelly said in recent times Limerick has been going through a very quiet time in relation to serious crime.
“The arrests and convictions we have secured during the year have probably cemented that.
“One always has to be very careful, as you do not know what tomorrow will bring. But in relation to serious players in organised crime in the city, a lot of them have been put away,” said Chief Supt Kelly.
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