POLICE in Liverpool are investigating the possibility that hired gunmen working for heroin traffickers with links to Dublin criminals may have murdered the journalist, Veronica Guerin.
Liverpool police and gardai have been sharing intelligence on the operations of organised criminals in both cities who now appear to be the major source of heroin in Dublin.
Police in Liverpool have reported that Dublin criminals have carried out gun attacks in their city on behalf of the local drugs dealers.
They are examining the possibility that Ms Guerin might have been killed in a reciprocal deal with their associates in Dublin.
Garda sources said last night there was not yet any firm evidence as to who killed Ms Guerin but a number of possibilities were being considered.
One of the theories on Ms Guerin's death is that she was blamed for exposing the activities of one of Dublin's leading heroin suppliers from the north inner city a man who has close links with Liverpool drugs dealers.
Police and customs in Liverpool and Dublin have had a series of successes against the traffickers with a number of seizures of heroin coming from Liverpool and Dublin in the past year.
A court case in Liverpool heard this week that a courier had made nine trips to Dublin in the year before he was arrested.
A kilogramme of heroin was found in a car on its way to Dublin in March last year, and in May this year, 1.5 kgs of heroin was found in a car which had just arrived from Dublin.
The heroin was believed to have been on its way to a major drugs supplier in north inner Dublin who had been written about by Ms Guerin. This man had previously been exposed by Ms Guerin and would have had reason to threaten her.
The street price of heroin in Liverpool has always been lower than Dublin, with a kilogramme worth about £41,000 in Liverpool and as much as £80,000 here. However, in the past month, the price of heroin has plummeted in Dublin apparently in an attempt by dealers to increase the numbers of addicts. Yesterday, customs officers and gardai at Dun Laoghaire seized two kilogrammes of heroin worth between £80,000 and £120,000 at current street prices.
Customs officers estimated the value of the heroin at £1 million but this figure would seem to be greatly inflated and possibly based on the previous high prices and massive dilution of the drug which was once a feature of the heroin supply in Dublin.
The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, last night issued a statement congratulating the gardai and customs