THE KINAHAN ASSOCIATE arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder at Dublin Airport on Sunday evening is being probed for ordering a foiled hit on another gangland target earlier this month.
The man, who is from the west Dublin area, was detained in the arrivals hall of the airport at around 7pm on Sunday evening.
He was arrested in relation to the investigation into the attempted murder of James ‘Mago’ Gately at a petrol station in Clonshaugh, north Dublin, in May of this year.
The Hutch family associate was shot a number of times as he sat in a car at a Topaz garage near Dublin Airport. He has since made a full recovery.
Gately was also named as an alleged murder target after an Estonian man was arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder earlier this year. Imre Arakas was charged with conspiring to murder James Gately in Northern Ireland in April of this year.
Sunday’s airport arrest comes after gardaí carried out a number of intelligence-led operations in the west Dublin area over the last 12 weeks.
Anti-gangland detectives now believe that the same man was the one who orchestrated the attempted murder of a well-known gangland figure earlier this year. That criminal had already survived a number of attempts on his life in the last two years after falling foul of the Kinahan gang which he used to work for. Gardaí are now questioning him about that failed hit.
This latest arrest is sure to cause more tension within the cartel as it emerged five leaders of the drug ring have ordered the murder of associates who once would have been considered close friends.
The men, each of whom has a price on his head ranging from €50,000 to €150,000, are all aware that they are in danger. Gardaí have given each of them Garda Information Messages (GIM) – a legal requirement to inform people who their lives are at risk.
The leader of the gang is now in the process of restructuring his organisation in a way which will safeguard future drug consignments into Ireland. Gardaí believe that while the feud with the Hutches is continuing, there will be bloodshed within the gang itself in the coming months.
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