Gardai deal heavy blow to on-the-run Drogheda brothers with €400k drugs bust

Two on-the-run brothers, who head one side of the feuding gangs in Drogheda, have been dealt blow as cannabis and cocaine worth almost €400k has been seized in Co Louth.
The €200k cocaine and €190k worth of cannabis were seized by gardai as part of Operation Tara and ongoing investigations targeting drug distribution networks and associated criminal activity on Monday night. Two males - one in his 40s and another in his 50s - were arrested.
Shortly after 11pm on Monday, gardai from the Divisional Drugs Unit in Drogheda stopped a van in Ardee, recovering cocaine valued at over €200,000. The driver, a male in his 40s, was arrested and taken to a Garda station in County Louth, where he is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
In a follow-up search of a residential property in Ardee in the early hours of Tuesday, April 29, gardaí recovered cannabis valued at over €190,000. A second male, aged in his 50s, was arrested and is also detained at a Garda Station in County Louth under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
In a statement gardai said: 'All of the drugs seized are subject to analysis by Forensic Science Ireland (FSI). The investigation is ongoing and further updates will follow."
The on-the-run brothers, who head one side of the feuding gangs in the Co Louth town, fled Ireland following the gruesome murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods. One of the brothers is now living in Dubai and the other is living in Thailand.
Despite being on the run, gardai suspect the brothers continue to be involved in drug trafficking from their overseas bases to Co Louth. They cannot be named as they are charged with serious offences. Warrants have been issued for their arrests.
In recent months, the gang, known as the so-called Anti-Maguire faction, have been dealt severe blows with a number of people currently before the courts on money laundering, organised crime and drugs offences. The gang is at war with a gang headed by paralysed mob boss Owen Maguire, who was shot a number of times by slain serial killer Robbie Lawlor in July 2018.
During the height of the feud between the two criminal gangs, which escalated in July 2018 after mob boss Owen Maguire was shot several times and left paralysed, there were four murders and more than 100 serious criminal incidents involving petrol bombs, serious assaults, and a kidnapping.

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