THE COLLOPY CRIME gang, once known as one of the most feared mobs in Limerick, are facing annihilation, after two of the gang’s leaders admitted a drugs offence, which carries a mandatory minimum 10-year jail sentence.

Brothers Brian and Kieran Collopy, both pleaded guilty today to possessing an estimated €50,000 consignment of heroin, which was to be sold on the streets of Limerick.

At Limerick District Court, the criminal siblings admitted a charge of possession of heroin for sale or supply, and a charge of possessing heroin at a house in Limerick.

They each also pleaded guilty to a fresh charge of possessing heroin worth €13,000 or more for sale or supply – an offence which carries a mandatory minimum ten-year sentence.

The brothers were caught red-handed cutting up €50,000 worth of heroin on a kitchen table when armed gardai raided a house in St Mary’s Park on 15 December last year.

They were preparing the drugs cache for sale for Christmas in the Treaty City.

Cocaine and cannabis, worth a combined €6,000, were recovered by gardai during follow-up searches.

The garda raid by was a major blow to the Collopy criminal gang, who have connections in the long-running murderous Limerick gangland feud.

Today, Brian and Kieran Collopy were remanded in custody to appear before Limerick Circuit Court for sentencing on all three drugs charges.

Their arrests were the result of a year-long garda surveillance operation, jointly led by the Drugs Squad at Henry Street Garda Station and the Crime Office based at Mayorstone Garda Station.

Brian Collopy, (43), was shot twice in 2006, but survived the murder attempt on Francis Street, Limerick.

In 2013, he had an eight-year sentence for intimidating State witness Willie Moran reduced by two years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

His former home, Ashby House, located at Fedamore, County Limerick, was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau as part of a €470,000 settlement.

In 2011, Kieran Collopy (40) along with his other brother, Damian (25), were both jailed for five years for threatening to kill Willie Moran.

Their other brother, Vincent, who was extradited from Bulgaria more than five years ago, has also admitted one charge of threatening, menacing or intimidating Mr Moran on 9 June 2010 at Island Road.

Philip Collopy, another brother, who served sentences for threatening to kill and possession of a weapon during a “pitched battle” with rival gang members, shot himself accidentally with a Glock pistol.

He was a prime suspect in the murder of Eddie Ryan Snr in November 2000. The other gunman, Kieran Keane, was murdered in 2003.

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