Two minors among suspects questioned over gun attacks

Gardaí are questioning six suspects, including two minors, about two gun attacks in Finglas, Dublin, on Sunday night, which left one man critically ill in hospital.

The two minors, aged 15 and 16, were among a group of six males arrested early on Wednesday in a series of Garda raids on houses in Finglas during which a crossbow and arrows were seized. The other four are in their late teens and early 20s.

Meanwhile, gardaí in west Dublin were informed by senior officers on Wednesday that a criminal gang in Finglas intended to steal from a church the remains of the well-known criminal, Declan Curran, who died in Cloverhill Prison on Sunday morning.

Curran was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery yesterday. Gardaí received intelligence that a group of criminals who had been embroiled in a feud with Curran intended to steal his remains from the church overnight and dump them at Dunsink Lane. In July 2003 Curran dumped murder victim Victor Murphy at the same location.

Gardaí working on Operation Crossover - an operation established two weeks ago to detect serious crime in west Dublin - were told to be extra vigilant in the vicinity of the church on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Patrols were stepped up in the area. The church was not broken into.

The six suspects arrested just before dawn on Wednesday morning were detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

They are being held at Blanchardstown, Cabra and Finglas garda stations and are being questioned about their knowledge of, and suspected participation in, the gun attacks on Sunday. They are close associates of Declan Curran.

In one attack, at around 8.15 p.m., a man came to his door at Ratoath Drive after hearing noises outside. Four men in the front garden opened fire with a shotgun and handgun, wounding the man once. Curran had been embroiled in an on-going dispute with members of the victim's family.

Around one hour later the family home in Finglas of Willie O'Regan, a man murdered by Curran in 2003, was targeted. Two shots were fired at the property but there were no injuries.

Gardaí believe both attacks were acts of defiance by Curran's associates.

They came less than 12 hours after Curran was found dead in his cell at Cloverhill just after 10 a.m. on Sunday morning.