Dutch police arrested two men wanted by gardai investigating the murder of journalist, Veronica Guerin. Gardai were in Amsterdam when the men were arrested at a train station. It is not clear when the men will be returned to Ireland, as there is an extradition appeal procedure.
One of the men, Mr Brian Meehan (32), of Stanaway Road, Crumlin, is facing extradition on a charge of murdering Ms Guerin. The other man, Mr John Traynor, of Knocklyon, Co Dublin, is being held for questioning on other matters but it is expected that he too will face a serious charge.
They were arrested after a surveillance operation in which a young south Dublin woman was followed from Dublin Airport on a flight to Schipol Airport yesterday afternoon.
At 6.20 p.m. (5.20 p.m. Irish time), Dutch police officers, accompanied by two Garda detectives arrested the two men and the woman in a train station near Amsterdam city centre.
It is understood Garda detectives had been in Amsterdam since the middle of this week.
The arrests follow a week of intense activity in relation to the case with two Dublin men appearing in court on charges relating to the 16-month investigation into the journalist's murder.
These two men are in protective custody and their families under Garda protection. The Central Criminal Court heard on Wednesday that Mr Charles Bowden is to give evidence in relation to the murder of Ms Guerin. He was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for supplying cannabis and firearms offences.
The gardai who were there for the arrest of Mr Meehan yesterday in Amsterdam had not been expecting to encounter Mr Traynor and this might explain why no murder warrant was immediately at hand in relation to his case.
Mr Meehan has been living abroad since he left Dublin last October. He has been travelling between a number of countries, including, it is understood, Spain, Holland, France, Majorca and Tenerife.
In August, Austrian authorities agreed to a request from gardai for the freezing of a bank account containing £700,000 in his name in a Viennese bank.
Two properties owned by Mr Meehan in Dublin, a house in flats in Fairview and an apartment on Ellis Quay, were also seized earlier this year by the Criminal Assets Bureau.