Gardaí investigating vigilantism in Co Kerry are expected to make a number of further arrests and may now bring charges involving abduction, false imprisonment and assault, writes Jim Cusack, Security Editor
The expected charges arise out of an incident in December in which a Dublin man, living in north Kerry, was stopped at a roadblock by a number of IRA members, abducted, beaten and left tied hand and foot on a mountain road. The man's six-year-old daughter was left alone in the car by his abductors.
Gardaí investigating the case are understood to have assembled sufficient evidence including witness statements, information from the use of mobile telephones and other material evidence to support charges.
It is understood a file went to the Director of Public Prosecutions recently.
The investigation into the abduction turned up evidence about the movement of cars and eyewitness identification of certain people around the time of the abductionof the man, originally from Ballymun in Dublin.
A key element to the prosecution concerns the use of mobile telephones near the location of the abduction and serious assault of the man.
In February gardaí arrested and questioned seven people, including the Sinn Féin candidate in the general election, Mr Martin Ferris, about the activities of the so-called Kerry Concerned Parents Against Drugs group in connection with the investigation.
Mr Ferris has denied any involvement in vigilantism and insisted he had nothing to do with the particular incident.