A DUBLIN MAN in his 50s is expected to appear in court tomorrow on charges related to the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin, who was shot dead in her car outside Dublin last June.
The man was arrested as he disembarked from the Holyhead Dun Laoghaire ferry yesterday morning. He is being questioned by detectives at Lucan in Co Dublin.
A Dublin solicitor, who was arrested at his home in Castleknock yesterday morning, was being questioned last night about the disposal of proceeds belongings to one of the chief suspects in the Guerin murder.
The solicitor was arrested by officers of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) under 1994 money laundering legislation. Yesterday afternoon, permission was given for his continued remand for questioning for a further 18 hours under the 1996 Drug Trafficking Act.
The solicitor's offices were raided by gardai last month and it is understood detectives discovered documents involving the transfer of deeds on a holiday home belonging to a man being questioned about the Guerin murder.
The house, in Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, was in the process of being transferred to a Pakistani national living in Birmingham for considerably less than its market value of £100,000. The Pakistani was arrested by gardai last month and released after questioning.
The Guerin suspect is from north inner Dublin. He is in his late 50s and previously had connections with the Irish National Liberation Army.
The man has been living in England since last summer, when he and other suspects in the case left the State. It is suspected that he has been involved in drug dealing in England. He has no legitimate source of income and is believed to have amassed a large amount of money through robberies and drug trafficking.
He was arrested just before 6.30 a.m. yesterday as the Stena HSS ferry arrived in Dun Laoghaire ferryport.
It is understood that he was accompanied in a car by a woman in her 30s and by the woman's eight year old son. The child was placed in care with the Eastern Health Board yesterday while his mother, who is original from Glasgow, was being questioned by detectives in Lucan. The arrests were made under the Offences Against the State Act, which allows detention for interrogation for 48 hours without charge.
Later, three other men, one of them a nephew of the main suspect, were arrested in Dublin. They are also being questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, but it is not clear if they are to face charges.
When the main suspect was arrested in Dun Laoghaire, two miniature radio transmitters were found sewn into his clothing. A radio receiver was recovered from the car driven by the woman.
It is understood that the woman had lived in west Belfast until 10 years ago, when her husband was shot in the legs by the IBA for alleged drug dealing. Her husband is a close associate of the suspect in the Guerin murder.
A short time later the same team's of detectives raided a house in the Ronanstown area of Ballyfermot and arrested a man in his 30s. He, too, was taken to Lucan Garda Station for questioning.