Updated 1.32pm
A FOURTH MAN has been arrested after gardaí prevented what is suspected to be a potential gangland hit in Dublin this morning.
Three men had been arrested earlier today and a man in his 40s has now been arrested as part of what gardaí called a “follow-up operation”.
Three guns have also been seized, described by gardaí as a sub-machine gun, a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver.
The men were arrested when armed gardaí from the Garda Emergency Response Unit intercepted a van on Gardiner Street in Dublin’s north inner city shortly before 8am this morning.
Gardaí said that the men have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
While the ERU intercepted the van, the operation was organised by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
One of the men who was originally detained is in his 20s and the other two men are in their 30s.
A number of searches have also been carried out in north Dublin, west Dublin and the north inner city this morning.
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, who is responsible for special crime operations (SCO) within An Garda Síochána, said that today’s arrests demonstrated the force’s commitment to preventing gangland murder.
We stated on numerous occasions that our efforts at tackling organised crime, particularly where it gives rise to threat to life, is unrelenting.
“The action taken today, through a combination of the resources assigned to SCO and security and intelligence, within the Garda Síochána, has yet again resulted in the arrests of suspects and the associated seizure of firearms”.
O’Driscoll added that the work of a number of garda divisions had resulted in the intervention in 45 “circumstances”, where criminal gangs had planned to assassinate someone.
He added: “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.”
With reporting from Sean Murray
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