Gardai are investigating a disturbing video which shows a man being beaten with an iron bar over an alleged €2,500 drugs debt.

The brutal attack happened in the Phibsboro area of the capital recently and no arrests have been made.

While the attacker has not been positively identified, one line being looked at is whether he is the chief suspect in the murder and dismemberment of Keane Mulready-Woods (17) in Drogheda last month.

"It certainly looks like him and it sounds like him," a senior source told the Herald last night.

Last week, the Herald revealed that the 35-year-old gangster spent a number of hours in the Darndale and Kilbarrack areas of the capital last Tuesday night in "a show of complete defiance".

The psychopathic Dublin criminal was seen by gardai "strutting around" close to where tragic Keane's limbs were dumped in the Moatview area of Dublin in a bizarre show of strength.

"He was walking around without a care in the world - he called into a couple of his associates in the area," a senior source said.

Pub

"Then he was observed going into a local pub where it seemed he was looking for someone but he left very quickly.

"His presence in the area was quickly noted by some locals and passed on to gardai who confirmed that he was there after studying CCTV."

The brazen hood has also been spotted walking around Drogheda since the gangland atrocity and was even spotted by gardai drinking in a local pub just hours after his Co Meath home was searched by armed officers.

Gardai do not yet have enough evidence to arrest the feared gangster and sources say he is "making a point" to his rivals that he is still "around and active".

In the video, the victim is repeatedly struck on the body with the bar and his life is threatened by the attacker who also threatens to take the terrified and badly beaten man off in a car before the clip ends.

At the weekend, a fatherof-two who discovered Keane's dismembered remains in a sports bag spoke of his horror to the Sunday World - saying he feels like he's trapped in a real-life version of the cartel TV drama Narcos.

The murder of the teenager horrified the nation and sparked political fury, with a rally being held in Drogheda.