GARDAI have foiled a murder plot linked to the ongoing Hutch/Kinahan feud in Dublin city centre this morning.

Officers from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) assisted by heavily armed Gardai intercepted a vehicle as it travelled through the capital shortly before 8am.

Expand Close A member of the ERU stands as passers by walk along Gardiner St this morning / Facebook

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Whatsapp A member of the ERU stands as passers by walk along Gardiner St this morning

Three firearms have been recovered and three men from west Dublin have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

They are currently being held at Clontarf and Store Street Garda station.

Three men were arrested and three firearms recovered following the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau operation in Dublin this morning. A fourth man was subsequently arrested in a follow-up operation.

Gardai said that following another follow-up search on Saturday night, two additional firearms were recovered along with a silencer and a quantity of ammunition.

Expand Close Scene of this morning's foiled a murder plot. Photo: Jason Kennedy / Facebook

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Whatsapp Scene of this morning's foiled a murder plot. Photo: Jason Kennedy

"Shortly before 8am on 10th March Gardaí from the Garda Emergency Response Unit intercepted a van on Gardiners Street in Dublin," a garda spokesman said.

"Three men, one in his 20s and two in their 30s, were arrested for conspiracy to murder and are detained at Garda Station in the Dublin Metropolitan Region. Three firearms, describes as; a sub machine gun, a semi automatic pistol and a revolver, were recovered."

A man in his 40s is also detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007 at a Garda Station in Dublin after a follow-up operation. Officers also carried out searches in North Dublin, West Dublin and the North Inner City.

Justice minister Charlie Flanagan this afternoon praised the Garda operation.

He said: "I commend the Gardaí for their decisive actions in Dublin City centre in an operation in which three firearms were seized and three men arrested.

"This morning’s operation demonstrates the continued determination of the Government and the Gardaí to target serious crime and all those involved in it,” he added.

Assistant John O' Driscoll, who is responsible for Special Crime Operations (SCO) within the Garda Síochána, said "we stated on numerous occasions that our efforts at tackling organised crime, particularly where it gives rise to threat to life, is unrelenting. The action taken today, through a combination of the resources assigned to SCO and Security and Intelligence, within the Garda Síochána, has yet again resulted in the arrests of suspects and the associated seizure of firearms".

The assistant commissioner added, "those within the world of organised crime who display a total disregard for human life remain within our focus and we are determined to cause them to be arrested, charged and where the Courts determine there is sufficient evidence, convicted and incarcerated within our prisons”.

Assistant Commissioner O’ Driscoll has previously credited operations undertaken by the Garda Síochána and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), supported by other specialised units within the organisation, including the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and Armed Support Units (ASUs), with intervening in up to forty-five (45) circumstances, where the planned assassination of targeted persons, by organised crime gangs, was, allegedly, involved.

The assistant commissioner said, "on-going liaison with other law enforcement authorities at both national and international level, is maximising the Garda Síochána’ s potential to deliver regular and significant impacts on the world of organised crime”.

The additional resources provided to SCO in recent times has enabled a crew of dedicated and highly skilled personnel to make significant inroads into tackling the activities of a number of major organised crime groups, through the making of arrests, the seizure of high calibre weaponry and the seizure of significant sums of money, the commissioner stated.

Detectives believe that the gang were on their way to murder a member of the Hutch gang living in the city centre.

Since the feud broke out more than two years ago at least 15 people have been killed while Gardai have prevented close to 50 hits taking place.

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