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Three members of Hutch crime gang charged in connection with €3m drug bust in Dublin

The three, aged 35, 40 and 53 are due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin this afternoon at 4.30pm

Sat 24 Feb 2024 at 16:13

Three men who are members of the Hutch crime gang have been charged in connection with the seizure of €3m worth of drugs in Dublin on Thursday.

The three, aged 35, 40 and 53 are due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin this afternoon at 4.30pm.

Gardaí attached to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) arrested and detained three men in relation to the seizure of cannabis, MDMA, cocaine, ecstasy tablets and cannabis jellies in Blanchardstown.

The haul was initially valued at approximately €2 million.

It is now estimated that the street value of the drugs seized is €3 million.

A criminal who survived a number of murder plots by the Kinahan cartel is one of three men who was arrested.

The 35-year-old became a prime target for the Kinahan cartel after they received information that he was directing operations for the rival Hutch mob in the north-inner city during the brutal feud between the two organisations that broke out in 2015 and led to the Regency Hotel bloodbath in 2016.

He has more than 30 previous convictions for offences including drug dealing, serious assault and other crimes.

A close older associate of the notorious Hutch gangster is also in custody in relation to the bust – he is from the Blessington Street area of the capital’s northside.

Sources confirmed that the third man in custody is originally from Asia but has been based in Ireland for some time.

The bust was made just after 5pm on Thursday evening when Gardaí intercepted two vehicles as part of an ongoing intelligence led investigation into organised crime.

A co-ordinated search of a residence in the same area also took place around that time.

It has been confirmed that the former cartel target arrested was the “person of the most interest” in the garda investigation which led to the massive seizure, according to sources.

A key associate of the Hutch faction, the 35-year-old convicted drug dealer was with Patrick ‘Patsy’ Hutch, who is a brother of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, when he and Patsy were lucky to escape with their lives when they were shot at after being lured to a “meeting” in Ballymun on the night of November 29, 2018.

This was the third time that the violent drug dealer escaped death after the deadly feud began with the cartel but is the last known attempt on his life.

A number of members of Kinahan cartel ‘sub cells’ are serving lengthy jail sentences in relation to detailed plots to murder the arrested criminal who became a figure of hatred to the international crime mob when the feud raged on Dublin’s streets.

Senior sources described the Blanchardstown raid as “hugely significant” and said it was proof that the Hutch organised crime gang is still one of the most active players in the capital’s drugs scene.

The 35-year-old was closely linked to the last feud murder victim Jason ‘Buda’ Molyneux who was shot dead in January, 2018.

He was shot up to 13 times at close range just a short distance from his home six years ago with his mother witnessing flashes from the fatal gunshots, an inquest into Buda’s killing heard this week.

He was killed after leaving his home in Dublin’s north inner city to visit a friend in the nearby James Larkin House flats complex off the North Strand around 9pm on January 30, 2018.