Clinical Garda strike against ‘untouchables’

The head of the Limerick divisional drugs squad said yesterday that the jailing of the Collopy brothers, Kieran and Brian, resulted from a clinically organised strike against the gang’s leadership after a year-long multi-agency Garda operation.

Detective Inspector Eamon O’Neill said: “For years we have been successful in getting their lieutenants. But these two, the top leadership in the Collopy gang, believed they were untouchable. Now they have received very significant sentences which we welcome.

“Today is one of the most significant in the fight against organised criminal gangs in Limerick. Since the feud exploded with the murder of Eddie Ryan in the Moose Bar in November 2000, a lot of people have died and many others have been jailed. The gardaí in Limerick never lost sight of the main drivers of the feud. These were the gang leaders running multimillion-euro drugs operations. Today two of the highest ranking members of the Collopy gang have followed the leaders of the other main Limerick gang, the McCarthy Dundons into jail for long sentences.”