Suspected drug kingpin arrested in Belgium

A MAN arrested in Belgium on suspicion of being involved in the wholesale supply of drugs is suspected of helping to orchestrate a bloody gang feud in Limerick that left numerous people dead and of many gang members in prison.

Jim O’Brien, a 41-year-old who once owned businesses in Limerick, fled the city at the height of the feud, following the January 2003 execution of leading gangster Kieran Keane.

Nicknamed ‘Chaser’, he is suspected of encouraging the McCarthy-Ryan faction in an attempt to secure for himself greater control over the supply of drugs into the city and the west. Prior to this, he maintained links with all factions.

O’Brien was arrested following Keane’s murder. He is also suspected of being involved in facilitating the getaway of those involved in the murder of Brian Fitzgerald, the Limerick doorman who attempted to stop the sale of drugs in the premises where he worked.

Hitman Martin Cahill, was paid €10,000 to kill Mr Fitzgerald and jailed for life this week. Cahill fears for his own life now.

O’Brien was arrested by Belgian police following an operation involving forces from five different jurisdictions, including the gardaí. He is suspected of being one of the largest importers of drugs into Ireland.

O’Brien has not been seen around Limerick since early 2003 and it was reported that he had fled to Spain at the height of the Limerick feud.

However, he is believed to have based himself in Amsterdam in recent years, where he has been centrally involved in putting together large scale drugs importation deals.

Following his arrest, police in Belgium raided a number of premises and found ecstasy tablets, five firearms and ammunition, cannabis, illegal cigarettes, pre-cursor chemicals and a mobile ecstasy laboratory with the capacity to make up to 50,000 tablets an hour.

In other raids in the Netherlands, police discovered an ecstasy lab and two firearms. A Belgian man was arrested.