Notorious Dublin mob boss ‘Mr Flashy’ has resorted to brazenly flogging drugs on a social media platform.
The audacious move comes after a massive crackdown in recent weeks on Mr Flashy and his ‘Gucci Gang’ drug dealing organisation in west Dublin after the mob's Finglas headquarters were seized.
Dublin City Council, working with gardai, seized the gang’s headquarters on Ratoath Drive two weeks ago.
The property was regularly used for drug deals and parties.
The seizing of the property by officials - which remains boarded up - is seen as a major blow to the mob which had established itself there for several years.
The operation - by specialist cops - came on the back of a number of feud-related incidents where Flashy’s gang has gone to war with a rival faction.
Now, in a bid to keep his drug empire operational Mr Flashy - who got his nickname after flaunting his wealth on social media over the years - has posted an image of a bag of weed on his social media platform Instagram with a contact mobile number.
The image showed a bag of weed - the unprocessed form of cannabis - with the caption: “The Good One” and a mobile phone number to call.
The image was posted in his ‘Stories’ on his own Instagram page which he has over 5,500 followers.
“It’s a brazen enough move to advertise the gang’s drugs on social media with a phone number,” a source told The Star.
“But nothing about the operations of these gangs surprise anyone,” the source continued.
“With their headquarters now gone, they will resort to anything to continue to sell their drugs and make money.”
The latest brazen move comes after two weeks of mayhem in the northwest Dublin suburb after the theft of a designer watch sparked a series of tit for tat attacks before escalating to the brutal abduction of Mr Flashy’s pal in broad daylight two weeks ago today.
Prior to the abduction of his pal on Wednesday, February 9, a dispute had broken out between the ‘Mr Flashy’ gang and a rival faction after thugs assaulted a close associate of the gangster and stole the high-end watch from him on a Dublin Bus.
‘Mr Flashy’ gang then targeted an innocent teenage boy who has links to the gang who were blamed for the bus incident.
Now, reacting to the latest brazen attempts by Mr Flashy to keep his drug empire operating, Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond has called on Instagram to shut down the accounts of such flagrant criminality operating on their networks.
Deputy Richmond said: “Once again, a social media company has been found wanting in terms of what their platform is being used for.
“Without delay, we need to see Instagram shut down these accounts & lat out how they will genuinely tackle such flagrant criminality operating on their networks,” he said.
“Social media companies have repeatedly been found wanting in terms of tackling abuse on their platforms, this is another area that needs urgent action.
“Beyond the social media companies, we need to keep investing in the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and human resources of our Gardai working in this area. While funding has increased and the success of the Gardai has been evident, there is still so much to do.”
In a statement, Meta, which owns the photo and video sharing social networking service, said: "Buying and selling illegal or prescription drugs is strictly against our rules and we're investigating the accounts brought to our attention.”
The social networking service also stated it uses a mix of technology and human review to remove this content as quickly as possible.
“We found over 97% of the drug sales content we removed between July and September before anyone reported it,” a Meta spokesperson said.
“We’re constantly working to get better at detection, and we’ll continue working with law enforcement and youth organisations to help support our community and keep drug sales off Instagram.”
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