Gardaí believe they foiled a planned gun murder just minutes before it was due to take place in Dublin’s north inner city.
Detectives are working on the assumption a member of the Hutch family or one of their associates was about to be targeted as part of the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
One of two men arrested is closely linked to the Kinahan faction. However, because he and his extended family are from the north inner city where the Hutch faction is based, his arrest creates an added security risk in the area.
That suspect was on bail in relation to a serious criminal matter, though not feud related.
The two suspects questioned over the weekend are Dubliners in their 20s. They were detained in the north inner city on Friday night after gardaí became suspicious of the vehicle the men were travelling in.
The men were stopped and subsequent searches of two vehicles yielded a loaded Glock handgun.
Also found were balaclavas and a container of petrol; the latter suggesting a plan to burn a vehicle.
At about 10pm on Friday armed gardaí conducting a checkpoint on North Strand, Dublin 3, stopped a motorbike. While they were speaking to the driver they became suspicious of a car that appeared to turn away from the checkpoint.
It was pursued, stopped and searched. Another car close to where the two suspects stopped was also searched and the firearm was found.
The two suspects were arrested and taken to Mountjoy Garda station under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
It allows for the men to be detained for up to 72 hours without charge.
The car the men were in and the other vehicle in which the gun was found have been taken away for examination.
The area where the men were stopped and arrested is close to the homes of many of the Hutch family and their associates who have been warned their lives are at risk as part of the feud.
Latest murder
To date 12 people have died in the feud, including two bystanders shot in cases of mistaken identity.
The latest murder occurred on May 31st when Michael Keogh was shot dead sitting in his car in the car park of the flats complex where he lived; Sheridan Court, Dorset Street Upper, Dublin 1.
Gardaí believe he was shot by the Hutch faction and that his murder was only the second time, of the 12 feud murders in its 20-month history, the Hutch faction has killed.
Keogh was not a central figure in the Kinahan gang but he was aligned to it. And one of his close associates was suspected of having carried out one of the 10 murders against the Hutch faction by the Kinahan gang.
Before Keogh’s murder there had been no killings since last December.
Gardaí believe the feud has effectively been given fresh impetus by the Keogh killing and that Friday night’s gun seizure likely thwarted a revenge attack.
