Gardaí were last night questioning a close associate of murdered drug dealer Marlo Hyland about the shooting dead in November of Latvian mother of two Baiba Saulite.
The man being questioned is a well-known drug dealer who was also implicated in the fatal shooting of Donna Cleary at a house party in Coolock, Dublin, last March.
The arrest of the man in Finglas, Dublin, represents the first real confirmation by gardaí that they believe Hyland's gang was behind Ms Saulite's killing. Hyland (39), from Cabra, Dublin, and one of the biggest drug dealers in the country, was shot dead last month. Officers believe Ms Saulite's murder was a contract killing carried out by Hyland's gang on behalf of another person who wanted the 28-year-old dead.
Ms Saulite was gunned down as she smoked a cigarette in the hallway of her home in Holywell Square, Feltrim Road, Swords, Co Dublin, on the evening of Sunday November 19th. Her sons, aged three and five, were asleep upstairs .
Detectives believe Hyland's gang sourced the weapon and car used in the killing. The man being held was being questioned about his role, if any, in the sourcing of these items. However, officers do not believe he pulled the trigger. Gardaí are operating on the theory that the gunman who shot Ms Saulite is in his 40s and was also in Hyland's gang.
The gunman is also on a list of suspects in the investigation into Hyland's murder in Finglas last month. He was killed by his own gang at a house in Scribblestown Park where plumber Anthony Campbell was also shot dead because he was a potential eyewitness.
The suspected gunman is also believed to have carried out a third recent gangland murder, that of drug dealer Paddy Harte (42), in Edenmore, Dublin, last May.
