The Dublin gang behind the £8 million drugs and gun haul in Amsterdam has been connected with a number of major armed robberies here in the past year.
At least six men and two women were still being questioned last night in Dublin in connection with the discovery of the drugs in Amsterdam and the activities of the gang in the city. It emerged yesterday that gardai seized £250,000 worth of cannabis and ecstasy in the south of the city during raids on Monday.
It is understood the gang was directed by a south Dublin man in his 50s who was a close associate of Martin Cahill, "the General", who was shot dead in the city in 1994.
The gang leader, who served a lengthy jail sentence in the late 1980s and 1990s for the armed robbery of a south Dublin DIY store, committed with Cahill, re-established contact with a number of other criminals also aged in their 40s and 50s. These included figures in the gang responsible for the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin.
The associates of the gang leader include John Cunningham, who is being held by Dutch police after the discovery of cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamine in Amsterdam at the weekend. Cunningham is the most senior criminal figure arrested in recent times for serious drugs offences.
He also has associations with two Dublin men wanted in connection with Ms Guerin's murder and with another Dublin criminal who has been involved in the armed hijacking of lorries in Ireland and on the Continent.
Since gardai investigating Ms Guerin's murder broke up the major drugs gang responsible it is understood that the other middle-aged criminals still at large began to work on re-establishing the drugs links between Dublin and Amsterdam.
It is understood that in order to buy drugs in large quantities the gang carried out a number of armed robberies. Gardai have uncovered links between the gang and the robbery of the Brinks Allied van at Dalkey, Co Dublin, in January last year in which an attempt was made to snatch £1.2 million. However, the getaway car broke down and the gang escaped with only £80,000.
The same gang was also behind the robbery of the American Express bureau in Nassau Street last November in which £500,000 was taken after the manager and her family were held hostage. Almost all of this currency was discovered last month in Liverpool when police raided a house.
Some of the eight people questioned in Dublin yesterday come from business backgrounds and were not previously known to gardai. Some of those arrested, including a couple from north Dublin, were being questioned about money-laundering.
The Garda operation, known as Operation Plover, is led by the Garda National Drugs Unit and is one of the most successful operations against organised crime in Dublin since the investigation into Ms Guerin's murder.
Some 15 firearms ranging from semi-automatic pistols to submachine-guns and an assault rifle were found when the Dutch police raided apartments used by the gang. They also found 100,000 ecstasy tablets, 50 kg of amphetamine sulphate - the drug known colloquially as "speed" - and 600 kg of cannabis.
Cunningham, who escaped from the open prison at Shelton Abbey, Co Wicklow, where he was serving the final years of a 17-year term imposed for kidnapping Ms Jennifer Guinness in 1986, was arrested last Friday. Two Britons were also arrested. All are still being held by Dutch police.
Cunningham, according to the Dutch public prosecutor's office, will appear again before a Dutch examining magistrate next week when it is expected a request will be made for a further remand in custody for 30 days. He is being held in a high-security remand wing of Amsterdam's Bijlmerbajes prison.