Gilligan Gangsters Seized in Holland

Two members of a Dublin gang whose leader ordered the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin are behind bars in Holland this weekend.

Seamus 'Shay' Ward, whose brother Paul was convicted of murdering Guerin, and Peter 'Fatso' Mitchell were arrested on Wednesday in an Amsterdam flat, where Dutch police found 110 kilos of cocaine, two kilos of heroin, ammunition and fake passports.

Although Ward and Mitchell, both 'soldiers' in John Gilligan's drugs gang, were not involved in Guerin's murder they have been on the run since she was shot dead in 1996. Also arrested at the flat were Mitchell's brother Christopher, his uncle Paddy, a fifth man from North Wales and two eastern Europeans.

The arrests came after a joint investigation between the Dutch police and Liverpool detectives. The fake passports had been stolen by a civil servant at the Irish Embassy in Europe. Although the Embassy had discovered the scam, the civil servant was not prosecuted but sent back to Ireland and moved to another department.

Ward and Mitchell, both 39, disappeared after John Gilligan was arrested at Heathrow airport in November 1996. The Republic's Special Criminal Court later sentenced Gilligan to 28 years over his drug distribution network. But although Ward and Mitchell's fingerprints were found at a Dublin lock-up unit used to distribute cannabis, the Gardai had insufficient evidence to connect them with the core of the business.

All four Dublin men will probably remain in custody until their Dutch court hearing, which is likely to be held next year.

Gilligan, who has eight years to serve in Portlaoise prison, is known to have used couriers to pass messages to his gang but it is unclear if he had any connection with last Wednesday's drug seizures.

Another of Gilligan's associates, 53-year-old John Cunningham, who was arrested in Amsterdam while carrying a loaded pistol four years ago was recently extradited to Ireland. He faces charges over his 1996 escape from Shelton Open prison and questions over a shipment of 780 kilos of Cannabis and 15 machine guns he allegedly helped to organise in December 1998.