Alert as gardai foil gunman's attack on gang rival
A garda officer inspects an automatic pistol retrieved from Grand Canal
Armed gardai were on alert in a Dublin suburb last night after foiling a gunman on his way to kill a gangland rival.
Senior officers fear an upsurge in violence in the deadly Crumlin-Drimnagh feud that has already claimed 10 lives.
Saturation patrolling was ordered by garda chiefs after detectives overpowered a prime feud suspect who pointed a loaded pistol at them.
Last night a 28-year-old man from the south inner city was in Garda custody as forensic tests were being carried out on the pistol which was retrieved yesterday morning from the Grand Canal.
Gardai believe the suspect, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, is a close associate of the jailed leader of one of the warring factions.
They are satisfied he was on his way to carry out a hit on a member of the rival outfit when he was intercepted.
The firearm, a Star 9mm semi-automatic pistol, was loaded and had been fitted with a silencer.
The suspect has already served a four-year jail sentence for a serious assault.
The arrest followed a call to gardai around 11pm on Wednesday, saying that a man was acting suspiciously at the Dolphin House flats complex in Dolphin's Barn on the southside.
Three detectives from Kevin Street garda station responded to the call and split up when they arrived at the complex. They cornered the suspect, who immediately produced the pistol and pointed it at them.
According to a senior officer last night, the detectives feared for their lives, but opted not to produce their own firearms and charged at the gunman, who fled to the Grand Canal and ran along a towpath towards the city centre.
Gardai gave chase as reinforcements from other district units, as well as two specialist squads, the organised crime unit and the emergency response unit sped to the scene.
During the chase the detectives spotted the man hurl his weapon into the canal along with other items.
They eventually caught up with him after passing under Dolphin's Barn bridge and overpowered him.
The man was taken to Kilmainham garda station where he was questioned yesterday under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
His period of detention was extended last night and he can be held for up to three days under the legislation.
The scene was preserved during the night and yesterday morning members of the garda underwater unit began a search of the stretch of the Grand Canal while another team of gardai carried out a minute examination of the bank.
During the morning the divers recovered the pistol and later found a mobile phone in the canal.
Bullets
A second mobile phone was found along with three bullets on the canal bank.
The officer added: "The three detectives were lucky as well as very courageous.
"We could have been dealing with a fatality this evening, if there had been an armed exchange".
Extra armed patrols were on duty in an area stretching from the south inner city to the far side of Crumlin and Drimnagh last night.
- Tom Brady Security Editor
