DETECTIVES are questioning more than 10 men regarded as minor criminals and suspected of working for the man who gardai believe ordered the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin.
The men, mostly from the Crumlin and Ballyfermot areas of Dublin, were arrested yesterday afternoon and evening in a series of raids.
The latest arrests follow the Garda's unravelling of the largest crime organisation encountered in the State.
The organisation is headed by a man who, gardai believe, left Ireland after he ordered two of his gunmen to kill Ms Guerin. She was shot dead on June 26th.
The investigation into his activities has resulted in the discovery of a criminal network involving a core of about 20 and an outer ring of as many as 100 minor associates.
Beyond this again are the hundreds of pushers peddling drugs and illegal cigarettes smuggled, mostly from the Continent, by the crime organisation.
Although all the gang maintained links with the working class areas from where they came, the top tier had earnings which allowed frequent foreign holidays, expensive cars and young mistresses.
The head of the organisation, the man who is believed to have ordered Ms Guerin's murder, has property assets worth several million pounds in this State and unknown amounts of wealth in cash abroad.
The 10 men arrested yesterday are understood to be "second tier" figures suspected of involvement in a variety of criminal activities surrounding the core activity of drug smuggling and distribution.
This group is said to be considered wealthy within their own neighbourhoods and to take occasional holidays abroad, but they are not substantially rich.
Two men were arrested yesterday afternoon, one at Windmill Park in the Crumlin area and the second a short time later in Ballyfermot.
Later in the evening another group of at least eight men was arrested.