Gardai in race to catch criminal who built Ireland's first ever drone bomb
Gardai are in a race against time to catch the criminal who built Ireland's first ever drone bomb – before he makes another one.
'We don't know who made it yet,' a source said – as detectives mount a major investigation into the IED incident in Finglas, north Dublin late on Sunday night.
'But we are obviously keen to find him. The fear is that once he has made one, he will try to make another.
'This attempt was unsuccessful, we are worried that if there is another one, it won't fail.'
The drone crashed at the home of an innocent family in Glenties Park at around 9pm on Sunday – but it was being flown towards a target elsewhere.
Sources say the IED was being used as part of a simmering dispute between two rival crime gangs in Finglas - and now investigators fear it will explode into even more serious violence.
'Lives are at risk now,' one investigator said.
We have learned that gardai in Finglas believe the crime gang targeted by the flying IED – which experts say was more sophisticated than a pipe bomb and had an electronic charging component – are now intent on revenge.
The gang believes the IED attack was ordered by a notorious criminal in the Finglas area and are determined to strike back at him. Glenties Park in Finglas, where the IED landed at the home of an innocent family. Photo: Colin Keegan/Collins
'The suspicion is that they will go after him now,' one source said.
'They are spitting blood about Sunday night and will not let it go. The real risk is that they will try to kill him.'
The drone was carrying a home-made IED when it landed at the innocent family's house and it is the first time in Ireland that a bomb has ever been delivered in that way.
Members of the Defence Forces' Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit – or bomb squad – made the device safe after an alert lasting into the early hours of the morning. Members of the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team made the IED safe on Sunday night.
The experts carried out a controlled explosion on the device during the drama that saw several houses in the area evacuated.
The army team then handed the remains of the device over to gardai for a full forensic and technical examination.
While the IED itself was destroyed, sources have told us that the drone that carried it was recovered largely intact.
Investigators believe it may contain forensic and technical evidence that they hope will lead officers to identifying who was behind it.
Local detectives, backed up by the Emergency Response Unit, carried out one search as part of their investigation on Monday in Finglas – but the target is not suspected of actually making the device.
We have also learned that military experts believe the gang may have got the idea of carrying out a drone attack - by watching footage of the war in Ukraine.
Drones are deployed on a daily basis by both invaders Russia and defenders Ukraine - and there are thousands of clips online of them being used to deadly effect. The experts suspect they got the idea from watching such clips online. Ukrainian drones target Russian armoured vehicles and military personnel on the frontlines in Ukraine in undated footage. Experts here suspect the Finglas gang got the idea to use a drone for their IED attack by watching clips of the war in Ukraine.
As well as the drone-borne IED, gardai are also probing another incident in the Finglas area on Sunday night they believe was linked to the feud.
A house was petrol bombed and shot up with a shotgun around the time the IED incident took place– and gardai believe they were both carried out by the same gang.
Sources tell us the outfit behind the drone attack and petrol bomb is led by a criminal who was once a key ally of Glen 'Mr Flashy' Ward, the gangster who ran the infamous Gucci Gang in the area. The criminal who leads the gang behind the IED attack once tried to kill Glen "Mr Flashy" Ward.
But they fell out a few years ago and are now bitter rivals. He is a suspect for a murder bid on Flashy and his brother Eric O'Driscoll in Finglas in June 2022.
Ward's enemy is now involved in a feud with another gang.
And the criminal, who himself was shot several years ago, is also a suspect for the horror attack on Browne's Steakhouse in nearby Blanchardstown on Christmas Eve, 2023. Gunman Tristan Sherry was murdered moments after he shot and fatally wounded Jason Hennessy, 48, in the attack.
Sherry, 26, had another gunman with him - and detectives believe it was the man behind the flying drone attack.
Ward, 32, was last week jailed for five and a half years for firearms offences.
He was jailed for firing a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle from the back door of a Finglas home during a house party in January 2022. His younger brother Eric was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to the same offence.
Ward previously pleaded guilty to a charge that on January 1, 2022 at an address in Finglas he possessed or had control of a .223 calibre Remington AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in circumstances giving rise to a reasonable inference that he did not have it for a lawful purpose. O'Driscoll, 23, admitted possessing the same gun.
Gardai discovered the rifle alongside a military sub-machine gun during a search of a house in Finglas in February 2022.
Ward's gang was one of the most dangerous in Dublin and was heavily involved in drug dealing, violence and intimidation.
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