Feud fears as gang boss returns to city
The elite Emergency Response Unit has been brought into a south Dublin neighbourhood to help keep a lid on any violence.
The feud, centred on the Drimnagh-Crumlin area and the south west inner city, has already claimed at least eight lives over the last five years.
The gang leader’s return follows his release from jail in the Netherlands pending a verdict on drugs and weapons charges.
“We got reports he was on a plane back to Dublin. There have been unconfirmed reports he’s been spotted, but not by us yet,” said a garda source.
“His stomping ground is lower Drimnagh and the Tenters area of the inner city,” said the source. “His mother’s house is down there and he has a number of apartments.
“He doesn’t put his head down on the same pillow at night.”
Detectives in the two garda districts are concerned the simmering feud will now boil over again.
The last two victims of the feud were members of the rival gang, and its leaders are seeking revenge against the returned crime boss and his outfit.
“The other gang is not going to take this lying down.
“We’re concerned the whole thing will flare up again,” said the source.
Gardaí said the returned crime boss, who they described as “extremely dangerous”, was likely to “stir things up” in the coming weeks and months.
Sources said the ERU will conduct police checkpoints and that Operation Anvil, the anti-organised crime initiative, will be in action. They will be supported by the Garda Air Support Unit, which has been out on a constant basis in the area in recent weeks.
The returned crime boss, 25, is likely to try and find out who leaked information in relation to the seizure of 54kg of heroin, worth €11 million, last October in Clondalkin, west Dublin. The haul, the single biggest seizure of heroin in Ireland, has been linked to him.
He is also eager to find out if anyone leaked information which led to his arrest in the Netherlands days after the seizure.
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