The chief in charge of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau has warned anyone tempted to take on a role in a drugs gang that they should be prepared to be locked up.
Detective Chief Superintendent Angela Willis, who has overseen the Bureau’s response to organised crime and, in particular, the dismantling of the Kinahan mafia, says nobody is outside its reach.
“Whatever your role. If you are one of our targets you better be ready to go to prison. It doesn’t matter what your role is, a group can’t operate without all its components,” she said.
Reasons for intimidation included to pressurise payment of a debt or a loved oneâs debt; to âdisciplineâ a person for âinterferingâ in a dealerâs activities by reporting incidents, or for even being suspected of informing or ârattingâ to authorities.
Targeted
A focus group participant recalled a resident being targeted after reporting antisocial behaviour associated with drug dealing.
âThey came back the next day and smashed every one of her windows because the police was called because they were on the corner selling all that day and they were fighting. she had enough of it and she rang the police. The next day, every one of her windows was put in.â