Gardai to question Limerick brothers

The Limerick brothers who turned up safe and well in the early hours of yesterday after being missing for seven days will be questioned by gardaí about their ordeal today.

Links to their dramatic release - and the murder of a major crime figure and rival of the Ryans in Limerick less than six hours before the men were set free - were also being investigated.

Two suspects, a man and a woman in their 40s, were yesterday arrested in connection with the murder of Mr Kieran Keane, of Greenhills, Garryowen, at around 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday night.

They were arrested outside Limerick at around 4 a.m. yesterday and taken to Roxborough Garda station, where they are being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Gardaí said they wanted to question Kieran and Eddie Ryan about all aspects of their abduction, detention and release. But yesterday the brothers said they had been threatened by their captors, and would not be speaking.

Meanwhile, as armed officers from the specialist Emergency Response Unit were drafted in to patrol the city, senior gardaí insisted last night that Limerick's crime problem would not be brought under control by extra resources alone.

Assistant Commissioner Mr Adrian Culligan said the Garda was just one part of the State's judicial system and he believed it was often asked to bear too much responsibility. The level of work facing the force in Limerick was not "reasonable", he said.

Mr Culligan said it was time to fast-track court cases and to examine the effectiveness of how the judicial system was working.

Chief Supt Gerry Kelly said he feared further violence in the feud between the Ryans and their rivals.

He said the feud was driven by "deep hatred" and "madness".

But he claimed that a major crime-fighting operation in the city involving specialist units of roaming armed officers had been a considerable success in recent years.

After a night of high drama late on Wednesday and in the early hours of yesterday morning, gardaí were trying to establish the facts about Kieran and Eddie Ryan's abduction and sensational release.

They also launched a murder investigation into the death of Mr Keane, a leading member of a rival gang who was shot dead at around 9.30 p.m. in the gateway of a house in the townland of Drombanna, about three miles east of Limerick city.

Mr Keane's nephew, Mr Owen Treacy, had been taken to the same spot. He was stabbed but managed to raise the alarm by making his way to a house about 80 metres from where Mr Keane's body was found. Mr Treacy was recovering in hospital last night. Gardaí say information from him will be crucial. He is to be interviewed today.

Mr Keane was a leading figure in the family now feuding with the Ryans. It is believed that he played an active part in the murder of the Ryans' father, Mr Eddie Ryan snr, during a gun attack in a Limerick bar in November 2000.

Garda sources said a "deal may have been done" on the road where Mr Keane's body was found.

It is believed that his murderers may have extracted information, through threats, from either Mr Keane or Mr Treacy, and that that information may have helped secure the release of the Ryan brothers.

Mr Keane and Mr Treacy were last seen driving in Mr Keane's car at St Mary's estate in north Limerick city at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.

The car was later found abandoned in the estate and was being examined last night. Gardaí were also conducting door-to-door investigations, and armed checkpoints had been erected in some flashpoint estates.