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A feared criminal gang is trying to muscle in on Dublin’s rickshaw business which is worth hundreds of thousands of euro a year.

Associates in the Crumlin-Drimnagh gang have been

trying to force out legitimate entrepreneurs and cash in on the lucrative enterprise.

Two gang members told one owner to stop supplying bikes to his employees and they’d be taking over. But the brave boss told them he wouldn’t be moving and he’d be continuing his custom.

There are several businesses which own the bikes in Dublin and lease them out to cyclists for €150-a-week.

One firm has 100 of the bikes and rakes in €15,000-a-week.

The minimum take a year for some of these firms is around €750,000. Gardai are aware of the intimidation against business owner and are understood to be monitoring the situation closely.

A security source said: “This sort of behaviour has only started to develop in Dublin about two or three weeks ago.

“It was only when these guys found out how much money

there was to be made from this sort of business that they went for it.

“It’s a minimum of 15 grand a week in some cases so that’s

easy money they thought they could get.

“But they were expecting one of the lads running it to just move away but he told them where to go. The guards will have to monitor what happens because these boys don’t joke around.”

Rickshaw drivers sprung up several Irish cities in the past 10 years.

They are modelled on the popular tourist bicycles in Thailand and charge small fees to get around city streets quickly.

Many can be seen outside nightclubs ferrying revellers to other bars or to taxi ranks.