Gardaí 'flooding' area, where children found loaded gun, to combat 'reckless' feud

It is thought that one, or both, of the children may have touched or picked up the gun before they ran home and alerted their father. The alarm was raised and a large presence of gardaí descended on the scene.

Gardaí believe the Glock was tossed from a car that was being chased by an armed unit in the Mulhuddart part of Blanchardstown.

Officers have seized around 16 firearms linked to the feud and believe the two sides are in turn linked to two other feuding gangs in nearby Finglas.

One garda source said the discovery of a loaded gun by a child is a “nightmare scenario”, but said it was the result of a “reckless” feud, which gardaí believe is driven by one of the two gangs.

There have been multiple shootings in broad daylight, including two near schools, and in car parks of supermarkets, as well as arson attacks and street assaults.

In the latest incident, an Armed Support Unit jeep was patrolling the Castlecurragh Heath area following a shooting in the quiet estate last Saturday, when a Lithuanian man was shot twice in a case of mistaken identity.

Gardaí say the man was driving a car that is similar to their target, who is one of the leaders of the opposing gang. His girlfriend lives in the estate and he often spends time between there and his home in neighbouring Corduff.

The Glock handgun is now undergoing DNA, fingerprint and ballistic examinations. Gardaí believe the gang was about to carry out a shooting.

It is just the latest in a series of firearms seizures in recent weeks and brings to about 16 the total number seized in relation to this particular feud.

Gardaí have used the Army five times to conduct large scale searches in parks and open areas. This has resulted in the seizure of firearms, silencers and ammunition as well as a box, containing €9,000 in cash, buried a metre underground.

Gardaí are trying to keep tabs on around 10 people, along with a “few stragglers”, on each side of the feud.

One source said: “The number may be relatively small, but this feud is reckless, with one side very much the aggressors in all of this.”

This outfit is believed to have obtained guns from one side of the feud in nearby Finglas. The other side of the Corduff feud has been backed by the rival gang in Finglas.

Gardaí say they have “flooded” the wider Corduff/Mulhuddart area with police.

“That type of flooding caused the type of panic you saw with the disposal of the gun,” said one source.

Some 14 extra gardaí were sent to the Blanchardstown-Finglas district recently, seven of whom have gone into community policing. The district has got an extra seven vehicles, marked and unmarked and the ASU is said to be operating 24/7.

'When the block was removed there was a gun inside'

Meanwhile, a garda involved in a gangland search operation uncovered a firearm hidden behind a block in the exterior wall of a house.

The garda tapped along the wall when he heard a hollow sound and, on removing a block, found a handgun.

The discovery was made at a house in the Clondalkin area.

“A garda was tapping blocks on the back wall of a house and there was a hollow sound behind one block,” said a source.

“When the block was removed there was a gun inside. That was a brilliant piece of work.”

There was not enough evidence to link it with an occupant of the house, but the Garda Technical Bureau is conducting DNA and fingerprint tests and a ballistic examination.

“If DNA comes back we could make progress yet,” said the source.

The search was part of an ongoing operation targeting one of the feuds in the Clondalkin/Ballyfermot area.