Eight due in court in connection with Drogheda feud

Eight people targeted as part of investigations into the Drogheda feud are due in court charged with drugs and money laundering offences.

They were arrested as part of Operation Stratus and are due before Drogheda District Court this morning.

The seven women and a man are from Drogheda, Meath and Dublin and are aged from 26 to 38.

They are charged with a variety of offences, including possession of drugs for sale or supply, drugs importation, facilitating the activities of a criminal gang and money laundering.

Over 200 people were at one stage involved in the Drogheda feud between two criminal gangs, which led to assaults, kidnappings, petrol bombings, homes being burned out and four murders, including that of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods in January 2020.

The teenager was murdered and his body dismembered in a house in Drogheda.

His remains were subsequently recovered in Dublin and Louth.

Gardaí set up Operation Stratus to target and dismantle the two organised crime groups involved in the feud and disrupt their supply of drugs, firearms and money.

Since the operation began four years ago, the leadership of the two gangs have either died, are in jail or have fled abroad.

Several senior figures and associates have also been convicted and jailed.

These include Paul Crosby, who was jailed for ten years for facilitating Keane Mulready-Woods' murder, Gerard 'Rocky’ Cruise, who was jailed for seven years while Gerard 'Ged' McKenna was jailed for cleaning up the house in Rathmullan Park where the teenager was murdered.

One of the gang leaders, Robbie Lawlor, was shot dead in Belfast four years ago, and his rival gang leader, Cornelius Price, died in a hospital in Wales last year.

Two other gang leaders, who are brothers, went into exile, one to Dubai and the other to Thailand.

However, gardaí say they have financed their lives abroad by continuing to supply drugs into Ireland, working with associates and gang members in the State.