Garda drugs unit tracking Mr B for past 10 years
While he has around 40 criminal convictions, he has escaped any serious convictions in relation to drugs.
He nearly did time in 2003 after he was charged following a huge drugs bust involving himself and English traffickers, but was found not guilty.
From Ballyfermot, west Dublin, but now living in a comfortable part of nearby Lucan, Mr B was part of a notorious gang of youths, called the M50 gang, in the early 1990s.
The gang specialised in stealing high-powered cars and robbing garages, petrol stations and other stores. He moved into the booming drug trade, particularly heroin, use of which reached a peak in the mid-’90s. During this time he developed connections with the John Gilligan drug-trafficking gang.
He was questioned by gardaí investigating the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin as part of their trawl of the drug-dealing underworld.
By that stage he had clocked up a raft of convictions, many of them for road offences, including car theft, driving without insurance and dangerous driving.
He was also convicted for assault, including assaulting gardaí, larceny and criminal damage.
“He has been dealing heroin for the last ten years. Heroin is his business. He has been involved in the distribution of heroin at different levels for a long time,” said one Garda source.
However, he avoided conviction for drug-trafficking. The closest came in February 2003, when he and two Englishmen were arrested in west Dublin. Gardaí found €1.5m worth of heroin in the spare tyre of a car the two Englishmen had driven in through Dublin Port. He was charged but found not guilty. His two English colleagues were jailed.
He moved to a comfortable home in Lucan with his partner. As part of Tuesday’s operation, gardaí seized two cars and a BMW X5, an 4x4 which has a starting price of €85,000.
CAB officers also froze two bank accounts containing €60,000.
