Mansfield jet trafficking led by former IRA activist
IRELAND'S main heroin trafficking gang, caught using controversial businessman Jim Mansfield's executive jet in Belgium last week, is led by a former Dublin IRA man, who has moved from being a former boxer and bouncer to becoming one of the richest criminals in the country.
Gardai have been targeting the man, originally from the Ballyfermot area, for over two years after he and a close relative who had served a prison term for IRA offencesmoved from providing "protection" for drugs gangs in the south inner city to taking over the supply of heroin in the west and south of the city.
The trafficker's father had once been prominent in the "Concerned Parents Against Drugs" campaign in south inner Dublin before being imprisoned for possession of explosives in the early Nineties. Both father and son have worked for Sinn Fein during elections.
Local people say that on his release from prison he moved, along with other IRA figures in the city during the "peace process," into minor criminality, providing protection for a drug dealing family in the Crumlin area. This, according to Garda and local sources, eventually developed into the local IRA becoming directly involved in trafficking heroin.
Gardai have been tracking the man for over a year and came close to arresting him late last year when they caught one of his distributors, also a former Dublin IRA Brigade member, in Clondalkin with two kilos of heroin. The gang leader left the country for a while but has since returned and was living mainly in Co Meath.
When the Dublin IRA's involvement in the drug trade was first revealed in the Sunday Independent three years ago, the IRA issued a threatening statement, published in An Phoblacht, denying that any of its members was involved in the trade. However, republican sources have since accepted that the Dublin IRA was heavily involved in crime.
After over a year of investigation and surveillance, Gardai discovered the supply route, which used private aircraft to pick up heroin in Belgium and fly it into Citywest Airport (formerly known as the Weston Aerodrome), which was bought by Jim Mansfield in 2001. Gardai believe that at least 10 large shipments of the drug were flown into Ireland by the route before last week's seizure.
On Thursday Mr Mansfield issued a statement saying he was shocked that his private jet had been used by smugglers and that he had spent millions of euros on security at the airport. Mr Mansfield's jet is available for charter and it is understood that it was rented after another plane normally used by the gang was grounded for repairs.
The gang leader, still in his early 30s, has been laundering his money through a variety of business deals, some involving other former republicans, including the buying and selling of expensive second-hand cars. He has also been making loans to high risk business ventures, usually acting on the advice of older former criminals now involved in legitimate businesses.
He and one other former republican, who was a member of the Irish National Liberation Army up to the mid-Nineties, had been under investigation for some time by both the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Garda National Drugs Unit, which carried ou Tuesday's raids. During the arrest of the gang leader, ?38,000 in cash was discovered at his home.
The series of arrests on Tuesday, of three people in Belgium and another Englishman in Holland, is believed to have dealt a significant blow to the operation.
The National Flight Centre, owned by Captain Kieran O'Connor, which charters Mr Mansfield's jet among other aircraft, was completely unaware of the trafficking operation and had no reason to suspect its existence.
