Gardaí investigating the murder of a second hand car dealer on a quiet country road in Co Cork last week have recovered a rifle which they believe was used in the killing of the 42-year-old father of five.
Officers found the rifle yesterday afternoon during a search of land near where Pakie Hogan was gunned down on the Glen Road between Grenagh and Waterloo outside Blarney at around 3.45pm on Thursday last.
The weapon has been sent for a forensic analysis by garda ballistics experts which gardaí believe will confirm that it was the weapon used to shoot Mr Hogan as he tried to flee from a masked gunman on the Glen Road.
Yesterday’s breakthrough in the search for the murder weapon came following extensive searches by gardaí backed up army search teams of a number of locations in the Waterloo, Grenagh and Vicarstown areas.
Meanwhile detectives yesterday continued to questioning three men in their late 20s arrested in the Grenagh and Vicarstown areas at around 5pm on Thursday about the shooting of Mr Hogan who was ambushed as he drove with a companion from Grenagh to Waterloo.
Two of the men are being held at Gurranabraher Garda Station and one is being held at Mayfield Garda Station and all three are being detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows detention for up to seven days.
Mr Hogan was buried today at St Senan’s Cemetery in Tower outside Blarney after requiem mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Blarney. He is survived by his partner, Kathleen and children Laura, Stephanie, Nicola, Noreen and baby, Pakie.