BORDER DRUGS RACKETEER 'BEHIND MURDER'

Dublin, Ireland - The murder of Dundalk publican Stephen Connolly is linked
to a
protection racket operated by renegade members of the INLA, garda
sources have claimed.

Connolly, who was in his mid 20s, was shot in the chest at 4am on
Friday in Park Street in what detectives described as a professional
hit. A senior garda source said Connolly had failed to pay a
protection fee to a man who has been linked with the INLA. The source
claimed the racketeer employed more than 30 people in pubs along the
east coast.

Connolly, who had been living in Jonesboro, south Armagh, was under
surveillance last February by an undercover garda investigation into
the cannabis trade, according to local officers.

Earlier this year, an armed gang tried to drag Connolly into a van and
gardai believe the same gang was responsible for his murder. The
ringleader is a former armed robber originally from the North and has
served two prison sentences. "He is involved in debt collecting and
extortion and gets a cut from drug dealers and smugglers in the town,"
a detective claimed.