Drug dealers offer to write off €10,000 for shooting gardaí

DRUG gangs are offering to write off addicts’ debts of up to €10,000 if they fire at detectives in what is claimed is a very sinister escalation in organised criminals’ battle with gardaí.

Gardaí have had death threats posted against them on the internet, and a bullet was left on the windscreen of a garda’s private car as a warning to back off.

These claims were made yesterday as the Garda Representative Association (GRA) — which represents 10,500 rank and file gardaí — held its annual conference in Westport, Co Mayo.

Detective Garda Ultan Sherlock, who is based in Dublin, said that gardaí possessed information that contracts were being offered by drug barons, mainly in the capital, who want to get “thorns in their sides off their backs”.

“We have heard that people who owe between €8,000 and €10,000 have been asked to shoot at gardaí in return for wiping off a debt.

“We don’t know if it could be a warning shot or something worse,” Det Garda Sherlock said.

He said that garda management was aware of such threats and that a “discreet watch” was being kept on the homes of potential victims by their colleagues.

“It’s naturally a worry, because if shots are fired at a garda’s house his wife and kids could be inside. It’s a real and present danger. Criminals now have access to some frightening weaponry,” he said.

The conference was also told that following the death of a young man in a stolen car a few months ago, a number of Dublin-based gardaí received death threats via internet blog sites.

The detective, at the request of a number of colleagues, introduced an emergency motion at the conference calling for a change in legislation to protect the identity of gardaí involved in the fight against serious crime.

He said that legislation was needed to protect the identity of gardaí who might have to open fire during the course of their duty and to ensure they were able to give evidence in courts from behind screens.

Mention was made of a recent incident when certain sections of the media identified a garda who had been involved in a serious incident.

GRA members were furious the disclosure was made after his wife died in childbirth along with one of her twins.

Det Garda Sherlock said gardaí should be identified simply as “Garda A” or “Garda B” and be given the right, in serious cases, to provide evidence in courts from behind screens.

The motion, which was carried unanimously, was seconded by Garda Bernadette Connell, also Dublin-based, who said that some colleagues had “prices on their heads”.