Detectives yesterday arrested four people, including one male juvenile, in connection with the shooting dead of 28-year-old gangland figure Shea Bradley in Dublin city centre two weeks ago.
Two men and one woman, all in their early 20s, were yesterday detained for questioning, along with the juvenile. They were being held at Cabra, Finglas and Blanchardstown Garda stations under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939.
This allows them to be detained for up to 72 hours. The arrests are believed to have followed a series of early morning raids in the city.
Bradley, a drug dealer with links to west Dublin gangs, was found by gardaí in a laneway off Blackhorse Avenue in Dublin's northside shortly after noon on March 10th. He had been shot three times in the upper body but may have been killed the previous evening.
At the time of his death he was on bail after being charged in connection with the shooting of an innocent man in a "botched" gangland murder attempt.
Originally from Derry but living in Dublin for some time, he was facing five charges in relation to the shooting of a man in Polly Hops pub, Newcastle, in Dublin, last September.
The man survived the attack but, six weeks later, the intended victim, Owen McCarthy (22), from Clondalkin, was shot dead and his remains dumped in Wicklow. Mr Bradley, a father of two, originally came from Knockwellan Park in the Waterside area of Derry city.
His family, who still live there, have said his portrayal as a dangerous criminal with paramilitary connections was inconsistent with the loving son they knew.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Garda Press Office said there is not believed to be any connection between yesterday's arrests and Sunday morning's car chase on the M50, in which more than 20 shots are thought to have been fired from an automatic weapon.
The gangland attack took place just after 4am on Sunday when four masked men in a car opened fire on a second vehicle as both cars sped down a 5km stretch of the motorway.
The second vehicle contained two male Dublin drug dealers and three female passengers. One of the men received minor wounds but later discharged himself from Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.