Nine people were being questioned in Dublin last night by gardai investigating the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin.
One of those arrested in a series of dawn raids by detectives yesterday is the brother of a man believed to have been the major importer of cannabis to the Republic during the mid-1990s.
The nine were arrested by gardai working on the Guerin investigation from Lucan station. The five men and four women were held at six Garda stations in the city under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which allows detention without charge for 48 hours.
Already one man, Mr Paul Ward (32), of Windmill Park in Crumlin, has been charged with the murder and faces trial in January before the non-jury Special Criminal Court.
A second man, Mr John Gilligan, of Jessbrook Stud in Co Kildare, is facing extradition from Britain on a charge of murdering Ms Guerin, as well as drugs and firearms offences. The extradition case was adjourned earlier this month pending an appeal.
Another man is held on related drugs charges.
Over the past year the Guerin investigating team has arrested an estimated 200 people and searched more than 350 premises. Up to £400,000 in cash has been seized, and gardai have recovered 100 firearms, ranging from handguns to automatic assault weapons.
Vehicles seized include 16 cars, ranging from a jeep to a top-of-the-range Mercedes, a mechanical digger, two motorcycles and a speedboat.
The Garda investigation has also resulted in the break-up of a car theft gang and a video piracy operation.
Ms Guerin was shot dead on June 26th last year on the outskirts of Dublin.