Man arrested by gardai following shooting of Dublin criminal Gary Carey in Ballyfermot

Convicted drug dealer Gary Carey (40), from Islandbridge Court in Dublin, was sitting in a car outside a house on Ballyfermot Crescent when a gunman fired up to 10 shots at him at around 7.30pm on Wednesday, November 17.

Carey, known as 'The Canary', was hit twice in the attack and was rushed to hospital for his injuries but survived.

Gardai said tonight they had arrested a man, aged in his 40s, who has been taken to Clondalkin Garda Station where he is currently detained under Section 50 of The Criminal Justice Act 2007.

“Gardaí investigating a shooting incident which occurred on Wednesday, November 17 in Ballyfermot, Co Dublin have this afternoon, Friday, December 17, arrested a man,” gardai said.

“The man, aged in his 40s, has been taken to Clondalkin Garda Station where he is currently detained under Section 50 of The Criminal Justice Act 2007.

“Investigations are ongoing.”

Investigating gardai had been probing if Carey was targeted by criminals from the Ballyfermot area, but were also examining a number of other lines of inquiry.

Carey survived a previous attempt on his life last March when a gunman opened fire on him in Ballyfermot.

He only received graze injuries in that attack and drove himself to hospital. He did not make any complaint to gardaí, but detectives believe a criminal aged in his late 20s from Ballyfermot was involved in that attack.

The young criminal, who was previously considered an associate of Carey, has almost 100 convictions and has been previously suspected of sourcing cars and acting as a getaway driver in gangland attacks.

He is currently in prison so is not suspected of involvement in the November attack, but gardaí are probing whether any of his associates may have been involved.

Both Carey and the man suspected of involvement in a gun attack on him earlier this year had links to a major gang boss from Ballyfermot who was released from prison over the summer.

The gang boss has been linked to numerous feuds in the west Dublin area for almost two decades.

He was suspected of ordering and direct involvement in gangland murders in various feuds, including one that claimed the lives of brothers Kenneth and Paul Corbally who were shot dead in west Dublin in 2010.

He is currently the subject of a major investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau, who have carried out a number searches on property linked to the man, including a raid earlier this year.

The gang boss is considered to have a significant number of young criminals in the Ballyfermot area working under him and has been targeted in a number of murder plots.

Carey has been questioned a number of times by detectives in relation to seizures of drugs, firearms and cash.

Despite his multiple arrests as part of organised crime investigations, Carey has only served one significant prison sentence when he pleaded guilty to drug dealing at Dublin Circuit Court back in 2002 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

On another occasion, he was charged with assault but the charges were later dropped.