Andrew Carey
andrew@limerickpost.ie
THE Collopy crime family and its associates have been identified as some of the biggest losers in the wake of last week-end’s flooding at the Island Field.
During their period of criminal activity over the past decade, the gang bought over two dozen houses in the St Mary’s Park area for prices ranging up to €6,000.
“Key money” was paid by gang members to the former owners who were told to leave their homes.
Files and title deeds were not be handed when gang members and their associates took possession of the houses. Many of the former owners were believed to have owed the gang money or had accrued debts through money lending or drug dealing.
As paper trails are non-existent, determining the exact number of houses that the Collopy gang own is proving difficult for authorities.
Up to 300 homes in the 200 acre site of the Island Field were extensively damaged and it is now understood that several properties owned by the Collopy gang were among those destroyed.
It is also believed that a large quantity of stashed drugs were either damaged or destroyed in the tidal floods.
As relief efforts are put in place and home owners claim relief funds, the Criminal Assets Bureau are monitoring the situation closely to determine the identity of key holders to the properties in question.
With two days of surging flood water, accompanied by the adverse weather conditions that made up Storm Brigid which engulfed areas of St Mary’s Park, it is believed that caches of drugs, firearms and ammunitions would have been washed away and destroyed.
In the past, Gardaà uncovered large quantities of drugs and guns in an open area on the Island Field known as the ‘swamp’ – the same area that was submerged in up to two metres of water last week-end.
Our picture shows Ministers Jan O’Sullivan and Brian Hayes with Kieran O’Donnell TD are shown the extent of the flooding last week.
