Fears bomb linked to gang feud

GARDAÍ are investigating if a viable bomb found outside a home in Crumlin is linked to a deadly gang feud in south-west Dublin.

The Crumlin-Drimnagh feud has been quiet for many months, but there are fears that if this bomb is linked to the hostilities, it could spark a renewal in a feud that has claimed 13 lives in the last 10 years.

Gardaí were alerted to the device outside a house on Lismore Road early yesterday. An army bomb disposal team removed a “viable improvised explosive device” at 2am. The scene was declared safe at 2.50am.

There is no evidence yet linking the attack to the feud. The occupiers of the home do not have criminal links, indicating the wrong house may have been targeted.

The feud has in recent years extended to a “second generation” of criminals, aligned to the two gangs. They engaged in around 10 shooting incidents between February and April 2009.

The last incident was in January of this year, when a house in Drimnagh was shot in. A high-visibility Garda presence has helped keep a lid on further incidents.

Gardaí do not at the moment suspect the latest attack is linked to the discovery of cocaine factories in nearby Terenure and Tallaght, that were linked to the boss of one gang.

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old was arrested after a man was stabbed outside a takeaway on Benbulbin Road in Drimnagh on Wednesday.

The attack appears to have been sparked by some altercation. The 38-year-old victim was stabbed in the upper body outside the same takeaway where a local youth fatally stabbed two Polish men with a screwdriver in February 2008.