IRA not linked with drug baron killing - Ahern
The IRA was not involved in yesterday’s brutal killing of top drug baron Martin Hyland, the Taoiseach insisted today.
Even though the crime boss was allegedly linked to the Provisionals, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said there was nothing to suggest that the terrorist organisation was linked to the hit.
His assessment, delivered to the Dáil today, came as the Sinn Féin leadership held crucial talks with the North's chief constable Sir Hugh Orde in a bid to break the party’s deadlock over policing and justice.
Hyland, 39, was shot dead as he slept in a bed at his niece’s home in Dublin yesterday morning.
It was the biggest gangland killing in the Republic for over 10 years and raised fears of all-out bloodshed between rival gangs in the capital.
Any IRA involvement in Hyland’s murder would have had a devastating impact on the Republican leadership of Gerry Adams, who met Mr Orde at Stormont today.
Speaking about security briefings he received on the murder, Mr Ahern told the Dáil: “I’ve seen nothing that may suggest that the Provisional IRA was involved.”
An innocent bystander - 20-year-old apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell - was shot dead before the attack on Hyland.
Raising the double murder in the Dáil, Opposition leader Enda Kenny claimed that innocent people were being assassinated in broad daylight in Dublin.
Mr Kenny told TDs: "The Government was well-warned by Opposition parties that not enough was being done to meet this scourge head-on.
"We have evidence of people driving on the M50 motorway with flak-jackets, with machine gun fire across lanes. Innocent people are being gunned down, being assassinated in broad daylight. Taoiseach, it is time for the Government to get serious about an issue that is very serious."
Mr Kenny also claimed that shipments of drugs can be ordered by mobile phone by inmates in prisons.
Mr Ahern said that the success of the Garda's Operation Oak - which aimed to crush Hyland's criminal activities - was the reason he was killed by gunmen believed to be former associates.
"There is no doubt that as a result of Garda operations, the net was tightening around Martin Hyland and he was losing grip of his criminal activities. Many of his associates have been arrested - 43 of them - and 24 have already been charged with serious offences.
"The Garda gave me the figures from Oak. They have seized 30kg of heroin, 35kg of cocaine, 1,500kg of cannabis, stolen vehicles, handguns, AK47s, sawn-off shotguns, rifles, ammunition, cash."
Hyland, who was one of the country's biggest drug dealers, was hit six times in the head and body as he slept in an upstairs bedroom in a relative's house.
Campbell is believed to have been shot once.
It is understood Hyland had been warned by gardaí that his life was under threat and took steps to escape attack by moving from house to house over recent weeks.
