On-the-run thug arrested by gardai over knife attack

A 25-year-old man suffered serious injuries to his chest and lung after being knifed in the Inchicore area of Dublin last week.

Gardai quickly identified a suspect aged in his mid-30s and closely associated with gangland target Michael Frazer.

Frazer survived six attempted murders between March 2014 and August 2017.

The knife suspect was arrested on Sunday night on suspicion of carrying out a knifepoint robbery in the Bluebell area earlier that evening.

Frazer's pal was detained in possession of a blade and cash after allegedly robbing two people along the canal.

He is being held in relation to the incident but will also be quizzed over the violent knife attack last week.

"The victim is involved in criminality and hasn't made a statement to date and is unlikely to," a source told the Herald.

"But excellent CCTV which shows the attack has been recovered, and detectives are working towards bringing charges in the investigation."

The Herald previously revealed that the man injured in the stabbing is a dangerous mobster from the Drimnagh area who issued threats from his hospital bed in the aftermath of the attack. The young thug is well-known to gardai, having been jailed for firearms offences in the past.

He is an associate of Kinahan cartel killer James Quinn.

Quinn (36), from the capital's south inner city, is serving a 22-year jail sentence in Spain for the September 2015 gun murder of Gary Hutch - the murder which started the Hutch/Kinahan feud.

Revenge

His associate is understood to have suffered a punctured lung after being stabbed with a large knife and was treated in a Dublin hospital's intensive care unit but has since been discharged.

After his release, gardai received credible intelligence he was actively seeking revenge.

Gardai are investigating a possible motive for the violent knife attack, including that it was over a stolen batch of heroin.