THE CEO OF Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) has said that the fresh threats made against him and other directors comes from criminals who want to “take control this area and control everybody”.

Liam McCaffrey was speaking after being informed by the PSNI on Monday that a letter to the Irish News made threats against him and his colleagues. 

The letter warned the directors that this was their “final warning” and that “we could have killed Kevin very easily”.  

QIH director Kevin Lunney was abducted from his car near his home in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh at around 6.40pm on 23 September.

He was savagely assaulted at a second location before being left at the side of the road at Drumcoughill, Cornafean, Co Cavan sometime before 9pm the same night.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, McCaffrey said Lunney is recovering but is still in significant pain. 

He said the PSNI and gardaí are actively monitoring the homes of directors on both sides of the border and a clearly taking the threats seriously. 

“The amount of support that we’ve had has been very heartening since since the attack on Kevin, both from staff, customers and from the community in general. So clearly, the community are right behind the directors QIH on this,” he said.

It’s difficult to deal with a small group of criminals who are organised by a paymaster, it’s a simple matter of criminality. It needs to be dealt with. It’s not a community issue. per se, and I think we just have to trust in the garda investigation on the PSNI investigation that’s ongoing to deal with what’s going on here.

“It’s really saying to the rule of law, you can’t operate here, we seek to control this area and control everybody in it and that simply cannot be allowed to succeed because the message that that gives out in a broader sense is just horrendous for any civilised democracy to operate in that fashion.”

McCaffrey said that many people have come forward over the past couple of weeks and that this is hopefully a positive for the investigation. 

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Asked about Sean Quinn’s condemnation of the threats and attacks, McCaffrey said:

“Any condemnation is welcome. I’m on record as saying I was disappointed that while Sean condemned what has happened and condemned the activities he also saw fit to once again launch attacks against myself and Kevin. Particularly Kevin was just recovering from the assault, I thought it was an ill -advised comment on his part.”

McCaffrey added that he and the other directors wanted the see-through their job at QIH but that the intimidation must end.

“We have stuck with the task we have run the company in a professional manner, increased the employee numbers by 200. And yes, certainly it’s our intention to see this through and work forward in that fashion. Equally, we will want to see the security forces PSNI and Garda and bring this to a conclusion and deal with the paymaster who’s paying for these activities and orchestrating this ongoing campaign of intimation.”