Gardaí investigating the murder of drug dealer Roy Coddington in Co Meath on Thursday believe he was shot dead in a professional attack carried out by local men known to him.
Mr Coddington (36), a father of three, Treadagh View, Drogheda, had been heavily involved in the drugs trade in Louth and Meath for over 10 years.
He met two men known to him at about 4pm on Thursday near Mornington beach.
He was driven by the men into sand dunes before being pulled from the car and fatally shot. Gardaí say eyewitness accounts indicate the gunman first shot the victim twice in the upper body.
As Mr Coddington fell on to the sand the gunman leaned over him and fired two further shots into his head from a handgun before fleeing with his accomplice.
The attack was witnessed by a German woman who was in the area with a number of children. A number of local people living on nearby Tower Road heard the fatal shots.
Gardaí say while Drogheda drug dealer Paul Reay (26) was killed last November by a Finglas gang once led by murdered drug dealer Marlo Hyland, they believe the latest killing is not linked to any Dublin gang.
"This attack is completely unrelated," said one source.
"He [Mr Coddington] clearly went to the area to meet people he knew. We would be confident that we are looking for locals that he knew through drug-dealing in the area."
Meanwhile, gardaí in Dublin were last night questioning two men in relation to the murder of Dubliner Damien Dowdall in the west of the city on January 23rd.
Mr Dowdall (23) was shot in the head by two men who called to his home on Lealand Road, Clondalkin.
After the killing gardaí said Mr Dowdall was not known to them, had no convictions and had never been arrested for questioning in relation to any criminal activity.
However, it was known that he associated with a number of Clondalkin drug dealers.
The men under arrest last night are aged 36 and 20. They are not suspected of direct involvement in the murder. However, they are members of a drugs gang led by a local man in his 20s whom gardaí believe was behind Mr Dowdall's killing.
They were being held in Clondalkin Garda station after their arrests at separate addresses yesterday morning.
During the course of the searches, gardaí found a double-barrel sawn-off shotgun, cartridges and cocaine and cannabis valued at about €10,000.
The 36-year-old man was arrested in connection with the shotgun find. He was due to appear before the courts as early as this morning.
The 20-year-old man was being held under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be held for 48 hours without charge.
In a separate operation in the capital, 100kg of cannabis resin with an estimated street value of €750,000 was found at a house on Plunkett Avenue, Finglas, on Thursday night.
No arrests were made. Gardaí believe the drugs were owned by the gang who murdered their own leader, Marlo Hyland (39), in a house in Finglas in December.
They also shot plumber's apprentice Anthony Campbell (20) because he was a possible eyewitness to the Hyland killing.
