INLA DRUG FEUD PROMPTS RED ALERT FOR ARMED POLICE

ARMED gardai in Dublin have been placed on red alert amid fears of an
escalation in a feud between the INLA and a Dublin drugs gang which
resulted in the death of one man at the weekend.

Members of the Emergency Response Unit have been warned to prepare for
further trouble after an INLA member died from injuries he sustained
during a violent confrontation between the two rival gangs on
Wednesday night.

Gardai have launched a murder investigation after Patrick Campbell
(22) was pronounced dead at Tallaght Hospital shortly after midnight
yesterday. Mr Campbell with an address at Corduff Park,
Blanchardstown, Co Dublin is understood to be a native of Belfast.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party confirmed last night that Mr
Campbell was a member of the INLA. It claimed he had died defending
his community “in the on going battle against drugs.”

Mr Campbell was being treated for stab wounds he received on Wednesday
during the showdown in a factory on the Ballymount Industrial Estate,
located just off the M50 C ring road.

It is believed to have involved over a dozen members of both the INLA
and a drugs gang controlled by a south Dublin crime boss.

Garda sources have expressed concern that the incident could spark a
return to violent gangland shootings in the capital.

In one of the most serious confrontations between rival groups in
recent years, six members of the drugs gang were held captive for a
number of hours in a warehouse in south west Dublin. During their
detention, the men were stripped naked and tortured with knives and
shards of broken glass.

However, other gang members then rushed to the scene in the Ballymount
Industrial Estate after their friends failed to report back. They
arrived on the scene as the men were being bundled into a van which
was destined to bring them across the border into Northern Ireland. A
number of shots were heard by passers by during the resulting
confrontation in which several members of both groups are believed to
have been injured.

Most of the INLA gang who travelled to Dublin earlier in the week are
believed to be from Belfast. The majority of members of the Dublin
gang are known to the authorities here.

Mr Campbell was discovered on a road outside the factory by a motorist
and brought to Tallaght Hospital. Gardai later alerted other hospitals
to look out for anyone reporting to casualty departments with suspect
wounds.

Chief Supt Noel Smith of Crumlin has appealed for further eye
witnesses to come forward, although a number of the participants are
known to have fled the city amid fears of reprisals.

Last night, two men were being questioned about the incident at
Crumlin Garda station. They are from Tallaght and are being held under
Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Another man was also arrested on Wednesday night but later released
without charge.