We'll deal them out! RIRA targets Dublin and Donegal drug pushers

7 March 2010
The News of the World
Stephen Breen

A twisted republican terror group vowed last night to kill ALL drug dealers in DUBLIN and DONEGAL. The Real IRA, whose psychos murdered alleged drugs smuggler Kieran Doherty, 31, in Co Derry on February 24, warned it would to extend its war on pushers. Cops visited a number of suspected dealers in Bundoran and inner city Dublin last week to warn them their lives were in danger.

The dissidents - who use the name Republican Action Against Drugs - are targeting dealers in a bid to generate support for their campaign of violence in the North - while muscling in on the lucrative drugs trade themselves.

Risk

A top Garda source said: "Dealers everywhere are at risk from these nuts, not just in the North. "A few days after the Doherty murder we received intelligence that they were targeting suspects in Donegal and Dublin and we had to warn certain individuals to be extra vigilant.

"The Real IRA are masquerading as republicans, but they're just thugs engaged in all sorts of criminal activity, including drug dealing. "They're trying to take over the drugs trade across the country. When they go after the big dealers there will be bloodshed because the drug gangs are now heavily armed."

The RIRA's strongholds are in Derry and south Armagh, but it has been recruiting in Dublin and along the border recently. Padraig MacLoughlin, a Sinn Fein representative on Donegal County Council, has told RAAD they're "not needed or wanted" and urged them to refrain from violence.