A three-man “hit for hire team”, which included an Afghan war veteran, were planning to kill a member of the Hutch family before they were intercepted by gardai just 250 metres from the “intended target’s” home in Dublin’s north inner city, the Special Criminal Court was told on Monday.
The four firearms included a 9mm Rak sub-machine gun, a .38 Special Calibre Rossi Make Revolver, a 9mm Beretta 92 semi-automatic pistol and a 9mm Makarov semi-automatic pistol.At yesterday’s sentence hearing, Detective Superintendent David Gallagher from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, summarised the facts of the case.
Other individuals were acquired to conduct the attack but this changed in early March when the three accused men became involved and took over the role as “effectively the hit for hire team”, said the witness.Glen Thompson first became involved on March 4 when he attended a meeting at a Santry coffee shop.
The second aspect of the plan was to have “a getaway vehicle” parked at Stoney Road in East Wall in Dublin 3 in order to provide “an escape route”. The three men were seen travelling in an Audi through Finglas and the city centre at 7.14am before entering a gated underground carpark at Belmont Hall Apartments, which was located around 250 metres from Mr Hutch’s house.