More gardaí to be put ‘on the beat’ to tackle gangland crime

Forty extra inner-city gardaí are to be put on the beat to deal with the threat of gangland violence, a Dublin City Councillor has said.

Gardaí arrested four men in the Gardiner Street/Summerhill area on Saturday morning who they suspect are involved in the Kinahan-Hutch feud.

Three firearms, a sub-machine gun, a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver were seized when gardaí stopped a van on Gardiner Street in Dublin 1 at about 8am.

Local Independent Councillor Nial Ring said there are several members of the Hutch family, many of whom are not involved in the feud, living nearby.

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“It is safe to say that any one of them could have been yet another innocent victim of this feud but for the brilliant preventative work being done by the gardaí,” he said.

“This is the 45th such operation which has directly saved a life and today’s operation demonstrated the continued determination of the gardaí to target serious crime and all those involved in it.”

Mr Ring said he had been told on Saturday by Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy that the gardaí will be involved on the ground over the next fortnight and will be in addition to specialist units tackling gangland crime. The Garda press office said it could not confirm the deployment.

Arrests

One of those arrested on Saturday is in his 20s and two are in their 30s, gardaí said. The arrests were made in an area close to where a number of murders committed as part of the feud have taken place.

A fourth man was arrested a short time later during a follow-up operation.

The man, who is in his 40s, is being detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007. All four remain in custody.

Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll said the arrests were part of an “unrelenting” campaign to tackle organised crime.

At least 14 people have been killed in the dispute, the vast majority of them from the Hutch side, since it began in September 2015

“Those within the world of organised crime who display a total disregard for human life remain within our focus and we are determined to cause them to be arrested, charged and where the courts determine there is sufficient evidence, convicted and incarcerated within our prisons,” he said.

A number of properties in the north inner city, west Dublin and south Dublin were searched by gardaí in follow-up operations, during which two additional firearms were recovered, along with a silencer and a quantity of ammunition.

At least 14 people have been killed in the dispute, the vast majority of them from the Hutch side, since it began in September 2015 following the murder of Gary Hutch in Spain. He had previously tried to shoot dead a member of the Kinahan family.