Gardaí claim gangs have CIRA links

LIMERICK gardaí believe feuding crime families in the city are forging close links with the Continuity IRA, with some gangs talking to members of the group recently about carrying out assassinations.

The gang even agreed a price for killings, believed to be under 3,000. However, these discussions are not linked to the John Ryan killing on Monday night.

The feuding families have been buying guns and ammunition from republicans for years but breakaway subversives are now aligning themselves more with the feuding factions, gardaí say.

“These guys are hardened criminals anyway and are unemployed at the moment,” a senior garda said. “They see this as the perfect opportunity.”

The combination of republicans’ guns and bombs, with the gangs’ drug trafficking is worrying gardaí. A garda said: “It does make the situation very serious because you have everything from cocaine to guns and explosives involved.”

The gardaí are aware of at least one case where a leading republican activist in Limerick was associating with a feuding gang. It’s believed the feuding families are also transporting a large amount of weapons on drug shipments.

Last month gardaí in Limerick seized a massive weapons haul, including a booby-trap car bomb, at a rented bungalow in Lockmore, Mungret, heightening fears the gangs are set to begin using explosives.

Chief Superintendent Gerry Kelly confirmed earlier this year that many of the arms used by the gangs had been supplied by subversive republican groups and that the rival groups were motivated by “deep hatred” and “madness.”