DRUGS SLAUGHTER: FIVE IRISH DEATHS FEARED BY INTERPOL

Gardai and Interpol were last night trying to establish the identity of up
to five Irish people caught up in the Dutch gangland slaughter.

At least two families in the mid-west were being asked by Interpol to help
identify the three men found brutally murdered in an apartment outside The
Hague last Saturday as a massive international investigation got under way.

Early today, fingerprints taken from the badly burned victims were being
sent to Dublin in the hope they can assist in establishing positive IDs.

Gardai have also requested dental records from the families of the men who
are believed to be come Co Clare and Co Tipperary. A Garda source said last
night: ``We are still endeavouring to positively identify who these men
are.''

But added: ``If they haven't convictions the fingerprints won't help.''

Yesterday Gardai in Ennis were asked for information about Damien Anthony
Monaghan of Childers Road in the Cloughleigh area of the town.

It is understood the apartment had been sub-let in Mr Monaghan's name for
pounds 500-a-month.

And in Bansha, Co Tipperary, Gardai were endeavouring to get details about
two brothers, Vincent (29) and Gordon (22) Costello.

The older brother was believed to have been on holidays in the Netherlands
and was expected to return home late last week.

According to local sources, Vincent had been commuting to and from Amsterdam
on a regular basis in recent years. Gordon joined him there around two years
ago.

Both men were back home over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and had been
seen socialising in Tipperary town.

Meanwhile Dutch police remained tight-lipped about the motive for the
killings amid speculation they were drugs related.

They were also expressing concern for the well-being of two others, a man
with an Irish passport and a woman from the North with a British passport.

It is thought the occupants of the flat in Holland were involved in drug
manufacture and fell out with a major crime syndicate.

A machine for making ecstasy was believed to have been found in the flat.

Last night a Public Prosecutor told the Irish Independent: ``The victims
were very badly burned and were unrecogniseable.''

Police described the killings as ``merciless and very, very violent.''

Attempts had also been made to destroy evidence. When officers first arrived
on the scene they thought the men had died in a fire.

After the fire, the remains were taken to a police forensic laboratory where
post mortems took place.

But the bodies will not be released to their families until the
identification process has been completed.

The murders were being regarded by police as ``a very serious'' crime in a
country used as a base by drugs barons.