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DETECTIVES investigating the murder of teenager Keane Mulready Woods arrested a third man suspected of obstructing the garda investigation. More arrests are expected.
he 17-year-old was murdered in January before being dismembered and his remains dumped in different parts of Dublin.
His murder is linked to the Drogheda dispute, a dispute between two drug gangs that has resulted in four murders and around 100 violent incidents.
On the other hand, the PSNI confirmed that it arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of the murder in Belfast of Robbie Lawlor, who was the main suspect in the murder of Mulready Woods.
This morning, detectives investigating the Mulready Woods murder arrested a local man in his 40s as part of their investigation.
He was arrested in Drogheda and taken to the local garda police station, where he remains under article 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007.
Gardaí can interrogate him up to seven days before he must be charged or released pending a file to the Director of the Public Ministry (DPP).
While he is not believed to have been directly involved in the teen’s murder, Gardaí suspects that he may have aided the killers after the crime and is being questioned on suspicion of obstructing the investigation.
“This individual was not centrally involved in the dispute in any way, and may even have been drawn into this crime simply because he knew some of the main suspects,” said a source.
More arrests are expected with up to a dozen officers currently working full-time on the murder investigation, which includes local detectives and members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI).
Detectives have also tracked a large amount of CCTV in an effort to identify various vehicles suspected of being used to dump Mulready Woods’ remains.
Gardaí made their first arrests in February when they detained two men from the Drogheda area.
A 39-year-old criminal was interrogated for several hours on suspicion of luring Keane Mulready Woods to the house where he was killed.
The suspect, who was previously incarcerated for a violent knife attack, was interrogated at Balbriggan’s Garda station for several hours before being released without charge.
A second man, in his 50s, was also arrested and has since been charged with obstructing the murder investigation. He is scheduled to go to trial in 2022.
One of the murder suspects was Dublin hit man Robbie Lawlor (36), who was shot and killed outside a Belfast home in April.
The career criminal was linked to a string of unsolved murders and shootings, and was believed to be one of two men directly involved in the teen’s murder.
He was shot and killed in front of a home in Etna Driver, Ardoyne, after traveling into town on a drug debt.
Today the PSNI has confirmed that it has arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of the murder of Robbie Lawlor and that he is currently being held at the Musgrave police station.
The other suspect in the Mulready Woods murder is a volatile criminal from Drogheda linked to several firearm attacks who is currently serving a lengthy jail term.
Mulready Woods was last seen alive on January 12 in Drogheda before his dismembered remains were discovered in a gym bag in Coolock the next day. Later that week, more debris was found in a burning car in the Drumcondra lane.
Since his murder, several of his young associates have also been involved in serious crime in the city of Louth.
In October, two young men, aged 19 and 21, were arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill a woman before being released without charge.
Another associate is suspected of being behind a sinister graffiti campaign against local Gardaí on the Beechwood estate where Mulready Woods lived.
However, many of the leading figures involved in the dispute withdrew or left the country after the high-profile assassination.
Cornelius Price (39), a senior member of the Maguire faction, is currently on remand in a UK prison and faces charges related to a kidnapping plot.
Two brothers heading the ‘Anti-Maguire’ faction, aged 25 and 21, left Ireland after the assassination and traveled to Spain.
However, they fled Spain after European arrest warrants were issued for them in connection with an incident in 2018 and are now believed to be in Mexico.
In his absence, a 20-year-old criminal, who also faces charges related to disputes, assumed the position of leader of the gang and sources say that his “direction of operations” has made him the main target of the Maguire gang.
Regarding today’s arrest, a Garda spokesperson said: “A man in his 40s has been arrested, on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, as part of the investigation into the murder of Keane Mulready Woods. He is currently detained under the provisions of Article 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 at Drogheda Garda Station. You can be held for up to 7 days. “
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