Lessons learned on central European firing ranges may mean the difference between life and death for Irish gangland criminals and for gardaí, writes CONOR LALLY
LAST APRIL, gardaí uncovered a conspiracy by Cork-based criminals to import illegal firearms into the Republic for sale to a Limerick gang. The plot was rumbled and a massive sting operation was put in place. UK police posing as arms dealers staged a mock arms sale to the men in London. With the co-operation of gardaí, a controlled delivery of weapons was staged in Ireland.
The Cork-based men were arrested and have already been convicted, but gardaí were shocked by the type of weaponry the Limerick criminals were trying to put their hands on. The haul included two grenade launchers, five assault rifles, five semiautomatic assault rifles, two Uzi submachine guns, three 9mm Smith & Wessons, two 9mm Brownings and five 9mm SIG Sauer semiautomatic pistols.
Gardaí are into a new era, where the weaponry being used by Irish criminals is beginning to match, and in many cases surpass, that once used by the IRA.
Worrying intelligence is also starting to emerge that the criminals sourcing the guns are travelling to central European firing ranges for training in how to load, clean and use the weapons. And they are breaking no laws in paying for lessons.
"We're increasingly seeing machine guns, automatic weapons; guns that are very high powered and can shoot hundreds of rounds in a few seconds," one senior Garda detective told The Irish Times. "You don't just pick up a gun like that and pull the trigger; you need to know what you're doing. There's no doubt that gangs are going to wherever they can to get lessons. And it's not just Dublin gangs. We've had intelligence on groups from places like Cork and Limerick too."
Another Garda source says: "They go on anti-surveillance or shooting courses in the same way you or I would be sent on a course by our boss to improve our performance at work."
Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell was in Prague in the Czech Republic this week to raise his concerns with the authorities there about Irish gangs using firing ranges in their country. "In the Czech Republic they have 1,100 firing ranges for a population of 10 million. That's massive compared to what we have," he says.
A new EU directive will lead to firing ranges in Europe only admitting those who are licensed to carry firearms in their own country. However, Mitchell says this will take years to happen.
In the meantime, he wants the Czechs and other EU governments to begin keeping and sharing records on those using the ranges. Courts, he says, should be able to hear evidence of an accused's firearms training in cases involving gun crime.
THE ABILITY OF a gangland criminal to use a gun properly is, literally, a life and death matter. The Limerick feud was begun in earnest when a gun jammed during an attempted murder. In November 2000, armed with a handgun, Eddie Ryan Snr approached one of the Keane family as he sat in a car waiting to collect one of his children from school.
He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger but it jammed, allowing the intended victim to speed off in his car. Just days later, Kieran Keane and another man walked into a pub where Eddie Ryan Snr was drinking and riddled his body with bullets in a revenge attack.
That killing began a spiral of violence that continues to this day and has seen 10 men killed in linked gun attacks.
Had Eddie Ryan Snr's gun not jammed, Limerick's gangland scene might look very different now. He would have gained first-mover advantage, as they say in the corporate world, and probably would have gone on to establish himself as the city's major crime boss.
There is a chance he might have opted to work closely with the dominant gang that has since arrived on the scene - the McCarthy-Dundons - and the bloodletting of the last decade might not have been so severe.
AT LEAST ONE member of An Garda Siochana can be thankful that the men who recently tried to shoot him hadn't gone to firing ranges in central Europe for lessons in weapons handling.
In 2005 Eric Hopkins (24) and Collie Griffin (33), both from Dublin's north inner city, were shot dead by the Emergency Response Unit as they attempted to raid a post office in Lusk, Co Dublin. Griffin ignored warnings to drop his loaded gun. It later emerged how close the garda had come to being wounded or killed. Griffin's gun was loaded, but not properly. No bullet had been loaded into the chamber, meaning the weapon's firing motion couldn't begin. It was a simple loading mistake that most likely saved the garda's life.
The emerging trend of criminals going to foreign firing ranges for lessons in loading and shooting guns may mean a member of the force is not so lucky next time around.