Gardaí have carried out a major search of lands on the outskirts of Ennis, Co Clare after threat-to-kill ‘call-out’ videos were posted on social media.
In one video shared on WhatsApp in recent days, a number of traveller men, with their faces covered, made threats against other members of traveller community. At the end of the video, one man discharged a firearm twice. It’s understood that the video was made at a location in Ennis.
As part of their investigation into that incident and an ongoing probe into feuding between members of the traveller community, Gardaí mounted a search of lands around a traveller accommodation site at Ballymaley on the outskirts of the town.
In one of the videos, a number of the men wore hoods and scarves to hide their faces while one, brandishing a sawn-off shotgun, wore a balaclava. At the end of the video, he discharged the firearm twice into the air.
One man addressed the camera and named a number of people and said they ‘were dead’. “Ye are dead and ye are going out of the village,” he said. The unidentified man ended the video saying “this is what you’re getting xxxxxx” before the shotgun was discharged.
This afternoon, shortly after 2.00pm, a convoy of Garda vehicles led by two Armed Response Unit 4x4s, descended on the traveller accommodation site.
Armed detectives, uniformed Gardaí and the Garda Dog Unit carried out a comprehensive search as part of that investigation. They searched several acres of fields, ditches, overgrown areas in the hope of locating a firearm or other evidence.
After about an hour of searching the operation was stood down. No arrests were made however, the Garda investigation is continuing.
