AN ESCAPE car used by the Adare killers may not have been driven directly to the area where it was later found abandoned. The Mitsubishi Lancer, with false Dublin registration plates, was found about six miles from Adare, Co Limerick, 7 1/2 hours after the gang left the murder scene.
First witness reports said the men drove away in a silver Corolla. Gardai say they are confident the Mitsubishi Lancer was the car used to leave Adare. One Garda source said up to eight people may have been involved in the operation and a number of cars would have been used.
The Lancer was found in an isolated laneway beside a derelict cottage about a mile from Granagh village. Yesterday gardai continued searching the area using slash hooks and hedge cutters. It appeared the car had been driven up the lane out of sight of the road and abandoned immediately.
Gardai are investigating the possibility that it did not arrive at the spot directly from Adare, but with confused reports of sightings from witnesses the only thing verified is that it left Adare at 7 a.m. and was found shortly after 2 p.m.
The area is in a maze of small quiet roads with access to both the main Limerick Cork road and the road to Tralee. Signposts are rare. Some of the roads become dirt tracks leading to derelict farmhouses and farm buildings. It had all the hallmarks of a well organised drop off point.
A senior Garda source said he believed most of the gang members were still in Munster.
Yesterday gardai said they had found two plastic containers of petrol, two hold alls and a hatchet in the Lancer and the Pajero jeep used to ram the parked Garda car. They would not confirm which items were found in which vehicle. They will be shown on RTE's Crimeline tonight and gardai will be appealing for information from anyone who saw anything in the area where the Lancer was abandoned between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.
They have not ruled out the possibility that the gang went directly to the Granagh location, left and returned later. It is possible the pick up car had not turned up on time.
The wooded area near Granagh is the central point for a search that includes house to house inquiries, Garda checkpoints and interviewing witnesses. Gardai in Henry Street station in Limerick have taken dozens of statements. The forensic examination of the vehicles continued in Limerick yesterday. It remains unclear why the incendiary devices did not go off.
On Saturday Chief Supt Michael Fitzgerald, who is leading the investigation, said he visited Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan in hospital two hours after the incident. He has improved somewhat and his condition, even though serious, is not life threatening."
Chief Supt Fitzgerald said Det Garda O'Sullivan knew on Friday morning that Det Garda McCabe had died at the scene. He said he understood that Det Garda O'Sullivan had not lost consciousness at any time during the shooting.
Asked whether gardai had information that a robbery was planned, he said: "We are continually working on the basis that things like this may happen - by things like this we mean robberies, not a member of the guards being shot in cold blood."
Gardai have armed back up at road checkpoints throughout the region. No figure has been given on the number of gardai involved in the operation.
At the checkpoint outside Patrickswell on the road to Adare yesterday a garda carrying an Uzi sub machinegun wore a bulletproof vest.
