FIVE INMATES have been arrested at separate prisons in connection with three ongoing murder inquiries in Limerick.
Three of the men were arrested from prisons in Dublin and the Midlands while two others were arrested in Limerick prison.
All five were questioned about the murder of rugby player Shane Geoghegan (28), who was shot near his home in Dooradoyle in a case of mistaken identity in November 2008.
Gardaí were also questioning the men about the murder in April 2008 of James Cronin (20). His body was found in a shallow grave. A postmortem found he had been shot in the head.
They were also being questioned about the 2009 murder of Roy Collins (34), a father of two, who was shot as he worked in the family amusement arcade in Roxboro. James Dillon from Limerick city was jailed for life after pleading guilty to Mr Collins’s murder.
Nobody has been convicted of the other two killings.
The five men, in their 20s and 30s, were detained for questioning at Roxboro Road, Henry Street, and Mayorstone Garda stations in Limerick and Clondalkin and Whitehall stations in Dublin.
Gardaí also questioned the suspects about recent gangland criminal activity in Limerick, including a number of shooting incidents.
They were arrested under section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí to hold them for up to 24 hours.
All five were expected to be returned to prison overnight or today and a file is due to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The arrests were carried out by gardaí from Limerick and members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.