GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING a feud between two families which has claimed two lives have carried out 20 searches, including at cells in Mountjoy Prison, and have arrested 11 people.
The co-ordinated search operation across Dublin yesterday morning yielded shotgun ammunition, cannabis and cash believed to be the proceeds of drug-dealing.
Gardaí also found documents they believe are linked to drug-dealing, along with drug distribution paraphernalia. Laptop computers, mobile phones and financial documents were also seized.
These will now be examined as part of the Garda’s efforts to trace assets arising from drug-dealing by the north Dublin criminal at the centre of the inquiry, based at Store Street station.
The raid targeted a group linked to a convicted murderer from Dublin’s north inner city who is in prison. He cannot be named for legal reasons. About six years ago he and his family got involved in a dispute with another family with whom they had been friends.
They initially fell out in a row over damage to a car. Tensions resulted in a street fight in which a young woman suffered stab wounds and a man head injuries. Since then there have been serious attacks on both sides, some of which have involved firearms.
In one instance a hand grenade exploded at the back door of an inner city house.
One man from each family has been murdered in gun attacks believed to be linked to the feud.
A key court date is looming for one of the feuding men and gardaí are anxious to prevent violence linked to the dispute in the interim. A total of 18 houses and apartments were searched this morning along with two business premises, a number of vehicles and a number of cells in Mountjoy.
The 11 arrested age from their 20s to their 50s. Of these, five men and a woman are being held under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act. A further three – two men and a woman – are being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. Of the other two people arrested, one woman has been taken to the Dóchas Centre on an outstanding matter, and a man has been arrested in relation to the drugs find.