Sn0wball
2008-09-07, 13:04
THE mastermind behind an attempted importation of weapons and drugs into Ireland last week was caught by gardai three years ago smuggling in products used to dilute cocaine, but could not be prosecuted because possession of the substances is not illegal.
The suspect, an underworld fixer from Dublin, became a target for the Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) after he was identified as an importer of lignocaine, a dental sedative used to dilute cocaine.
The GNDU arrested and questioned him following the seizure of cocaine worth €840,000 and €400,000 in cash at an apartment in Balbriggan, north Dublin, but did not charge him. Another man was convicted for the haul. Seizures of lignocaine were also linked to the man, who sourced the product in eastern Europe and on the Continent and smuggled it into Ireland in lorries and vans.
The suspect, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is suspected of organising the importation of arms and drugs seized by gardai and members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) last week. The arms deal, which would have been worth €1.5m to the criminals, involved the delivery of handguns, silencers, revolvers and ammunition to gangs in Limerick and Tipperary.
The deal was intercepted by undercover police officers after the suspect approached a criminal gang in Belfast and asked them to smuggle the contraband from Holland to Ireland in July. The PSNI launched a “level one” covert operation. This involved infiltrating the gang, tapping their phones and tailing their movements. Hotel rooms in Belfast and Amsterdam used to arrange the deal were fitted with hidden cameras and bugged to record incriminating conversations.
The operation was assisted by detectives from the GNDU, Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Dutch Drugs Squad. Customs agents also played an operational role and gave undertakings to allow the weapons shipment to pass through border checkpoints as it travelled from Holland.
Undercover officers and customs agents followed a truck used to transport the contraband from Holland to Dublin. Crime and Security, the garda’s spying agency, and the PSNI’s organised crime unit, eavesdropped on calls made to and from a mobile phone used by the mastermind.
This part of the inquiry linked it to Brian Meehan, a drug dealer who is serving a life sentence in Portlaoise prison for murdering Veronica Guerin, a crime reporter, in 1996. Meehan, an associate of the main organiser, had helped to broker the deal using a mobile phone smuggled into prison.
“Meehan’s role in the conspiracy was to act as a guarantor between all the parties. His problem was that he is a prisoner and had to do his business over a phone, which had been compromised,” said one intelligence source. “Once the main organiser’s phone was compromised, it was over. We were able to trace everything.”
The gang was put under surveillance by undercover police when the arms and drugs shipment arrived in Belfast last week. At the last minute, the mastermind arranged to deliver part of the consignment to Limerick and organised a courier to collect 27 guns, 20kg of heroin and herbal cannabis from a location in Belfast.
Armed gardai and surveillance units tailed the vehicle used to collect the contraband from Belfast to Dublin and it was stopped on Tuesday in Swords. Inside the vehicle officers found four types of firearms including Glock 19C semi-automatic pistols, with magazines and speed-loaders. There were also Glock 19 semi-automatic pistols, Beretta semi-automatic pistols with sound suppressors, Smith & Wesson revolvers and ammunition.
More than a dozen shrink-wrapped blocks of heroin and about eight bags of herbal cannabis were also found. The value of the drugs was €4m.
The other police agencies then moved into action. Another 14 handguns were seized by the PSNI in Belfast. About 1,000 rounds of ammunition for the weapons was also found.
The Dutch police raided a factory in the Oud-West area of Amsterdam where the weapons had been collected that had been under surveillance for several months. The raid yielded 165 firearms. They were hidden in small safes and concrete posts and behind wooden panels. A money counter, computers, mobile phones and documents were also seized.
Almost all of those involved in the conspiracy were arrested, with the exception of Meehan. His mobile phone was not found in a search of his cell. His involvement in the operation brings into question the use of telephone intercepts in criminal investigations. The justice department said it is reviewing the law on the use of surveillance and telephone intercepts, or TIs, following the recent collapse of several prosecutions linked to organised crime.
In Ireland, bugged telephone conversations must be treated as “intelligence” only by gardai and cannot be used as evidence in criminal trials.
Garda headquarters claim that allowing wiretaps to become admissible in court would give away “trade secrets” and alert criminals to the extent of police eavesdropping.
Weapons seizures that hit the headlines
In October 1999, members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit and Special Branch seized six Russian ready-made bombs and a rocket launcher with a grenade missile at a Real IRA training camp in Stamullen, Co Meath. The arms had been smuggled into Ireland from the Balkans in a camper van by dissident republicans.
One of the biggest arms seizures made against a criminal gang in the history of the republic took place in April 2007 when gardai seized handguns, rocket propelled grenades and an AK-47 assault rifle in Glanmire, Co Cork. A gang involved in the drugs trade in Limerick had imported what was called the biggest weapons haul of its kind.
Seizures of military weapons from criminals are common, say gardai. In November 2007, they stopped Denis Dwyer, an apprentice plumber, on Camden Street, Dublin. His sports bag contained an AK-74 assault rifle, with two magazines, one of which was loaded with 21 rounds. Dwyer was later sentenced to four years in prison.
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The suspect, an underworld fixer from Dublin, became a target for the Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) after he was identified as an importer of lignocaine, a dental sedative used to dilute cocaine.
The GNDU arrested and questioned him following the seizure of cocaine worth €840,000 and €400,000 in cash at an apartment in Balbriggan, north Dublin, but did not charge him. Another man was convicted for the haul. Seizures of lignocaine were also linked to the man, who sourced the product in eastern Europe and on the Continent and smuggled it into Ireland in lorries and vans.
The suspect, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is suspected of organising the importation of arms and drugs seized by gardai and members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) last week. The arms deal, which would have been worth €1.5m to the criminals, involved the delivery of handguns, silencers, revolvers and ammunition to gangs in Limerick and Tipperary.
The deal was intercepted by undercover police officers after the suspect approached a criminal gang in Belfast and asked them to smuggle the contraband from Holland to Ireland in July. The PSNI launched a “level one” covert operation. This involved infiltrating the gang, tapping their phones and tailing their movements. Hotel rooms in Belfast and Amsterdam used to arrange the deal were fitted with hidden cameras and bugged to record incriminating conversations.
The operation was assisted by detectives from the GNDU, Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Dutch Drugs Squad. Customs agents also played an operational role and gave undertakings to allow the weapons shipment to pass through border checkpoints as it travelled from Holland.
Undercover officers and customs agents followed a truck used to transport the contraband from Holland to Dublin. Crime and Security, the garda’s spying agency, and the PSNI’s organised crime unit, eavesdropped on calls made to and from a mobile phone used by the mastermind.
This part of the inquiry linked it to Brian Meehan, a drug dealer who is serving a life sentence in Portlaoise prison for murdering Veronica Guerin, a crime reporter, in 1996. Meehan, an associate of the main organiser, had helped to broker the deal using a mobile phone smuggled into prison.
“Meehan’s role in the conspiracy was to act as a guarantor between all the parties. His problem was that he is a prisoner and had to do his business over a phone, which had been compromised,” said one intelligence source. “Once the main organiser’s phone was compromised, it was over. We were able to trace everything.”
The gang was put under surveillance by undercover police when the arms and drugs shipment arrived in Belfast last week. At the last minute, the mastermind arranged to deliver part of the consignment to Limerick and organised a courier to collect 27 guns, 20kg of heroin and herbal cannabis from a location in Belfast.
Armed gardai and surveillance units tailed the vehicle used to collect the contraband from Belfast to Dublin and it was stopped on Tuesday in Swords. Inside the vehicle officers found four types of firearms including Glock 19C semi-automatic pistols, with magazines and speed-loaders. There were also Glock 19 semi-automatic pistols, Beretta semi-automatic pistols with sound suppressors, Smith & Wesson revolvers and ammunition.
More than a dozen shrink-wrapped blocks of heroin and about eight bags of herbal cannabis were also found. The value of the drugs was €4m.
The other police agencies then moved into action. Another 14 handguns were seized by the PSNI in Belfast. About 1,000 rounds of ammunition for the weapons was also found.
The Dutch police raided a factory in the Oud-West area of Amsterdam where the weapons had been collected that had been under surveillance for several months. The raid yielded 165 firearms. They were hidden in small safes and concrete posts and behind wooden panels. A money counter, computers, mobile phones and documents were also seized.
Almost all of those involved in the conspiracy were arrested, with the exception of Meehan. His mobile phone was not found in a search of his cell. His involvement in the operation brings into question the use of telephone intercepts in criminal investigations. The justice department said it is reviewing the law on the use of surveillance and telephone intercepts, or TIs, following the recent collapse of several prosecutions linked to organised crime.
In Ireland, bugged telephone conversations must be treated as “intelligence” only by gardai and cannot be used as evidence in criminal trials.
Garda headquarters claim that allowing wiretaps to become admissible in court would give away “trade secrets” and alert criminals to the extent of police eavesdropping.
Weapons seizures that hit the headlines
In October 1999, members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit and Special Branch seized six Russian ready-made bombs and a rocket launcher with a grenade missile at a Real IRA training camp in Stamullen, Co Meath. The arms had been smuggled into Ireland from the Balkans in a camper van by dissident republicans.
One of the biggest arms seizures made against a criminal gang in the history of the republic took place in April 2007 when gardai seized handguns, rocket propelled grenades and an AK-47 assault rifle in Glanmire, Co Cork. A gang involved in the drugs trade in Limerick had imported what was called the biggest weapons haul of its kind.
Seizures of military weapons from criminals are common, say gardai. In November 2007, they stopped Denis Dwyer, an apprentice plumber, on Camden Street, Dublin. His sports bag contained an AK-74 assault rifle, with two magazines, one of which was loaded with 21 rounds. Dwyer was later sentenced to four years in prison.
http://tinyurl.com/5dph5x