It comes just one day after we revealed a professional woman who was in a relationship with Lawlor was arrested as part of the investigation.
The Dublin criminal is the latest arrest in the probe which has also seen associates of Mr Big’s gangland enemy Robbie Lawlor arrested.
The Sunday World understands ‘Mr Big’ was arrested under organised crime legislation.
Sources say he had been a target of the investigation for some time before his arrest.
Gangland boss ‘Mr Big’
News in 90 Seconds – Thursday, November 6
It comes just one day after we revealed a professional woman who was in a relationship with Lawlor was arrested as part of the investigation.
The glamorous woman was arrested in top secret garda raids on Wednesday morning and was still being questioned this morning.
She had been arrested along with a criminal aged in his 40s who is suspected of directing Lawlor’s criminal activities before he was shot dead in Belfast in April 2020.
Robbie Lawlor and Mr Big were gangland enemies
It is understood that information gathered by gardai on the EncroChat network has provided enough evidence to arrest the suspects who are believed to have intimate knowledge of the deadly Drogheda feud that claimed four lives.
Earlier this year, the Sunday World reported that ‘Mr Big’ was so paranoid he was about to face imminent charges that he fled Ireland for Dubai earlier this year.
He is the focus of probes involving An Garda Síochána and the PSNI and his gang is suspected of being involved in numerous murders, including the hit on notorious gunman Lawlor.
At the time of Lawlor’s murder, criminal gangs believed they were able to communicate securely through the Encrochat encrypted messaging service — but unbeknown to them it had been hacked by authorities.
‘Mr Big’ and Lawlor were seen as gangland enemies since the murder of Mr Big’s associate Kenneth Finn in Coolock in 2018.
Lawlor was the prime suspect in his murder.
The feared enforcer was also heavily involved in the Drogheda feud and was at war with the Maguire faction.
Lawlor’s close associate Richie Carberry, who was also feuding with the Maguire faction, was shot dead outside his home in Bettystown, Co Meath in 2019.
He blamed Mr Big for the attack on Carberry.
Lawlor was subsequently suspected of being involved in the brutal murder of teenager Keane Mulready Woods who was dismembered and had his body parts dumped at locations in north Dublin as part of the feud.
Keane Mulready-Woods
The woman at the centre of this organised crime investigation has been under death threat because of her relationship with Lawlor.
The Sunday World previously revealed that she received a sinister letter after Lawlor was killed in Belfast in April 2020 and warned that her clandestine affair was known about by his rivals.
Details of a late-night attempt to kill him at her home on a night leading up to his assassination was also in the letter along with the time and date a security light at her property had gone off forcing a gunman to flee.
The ‘affair’ between Lawlor and the legal professional had raised eyebrows months previous when he had left flowers on her car near a courthouse.
When gardaí approached her fearing the gesture was a threat, she’d giggled and blushed.
Retired Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan was so concerned about the relationship that he had written to then Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to raise a flag about the type of business she was doing in Louth area.
At the time Lawlor was the chief suspect for the gruesome murder of 17-year-old Mulready Woods – a crime that caused national shock and international headlines.
Following her arrest on Wednesday, the woman was held at Coolock Garda Station while the male suspect was taken to Clontarf after his arrest at his home on the Louth/Meath border.
They can be held for up to a week before a decision is made to release or charge them.
The arrests conducted by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) and interviews carried out by their detectives are described as “very sensitive.”
When contacted for a comment on the matter, the Garda Press Office said: “An Garda Siochana has arrested two persons in relation to alleged organised crime offences.
“Both persons are detained in garda stations in the Dublin region under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act.
“An Garda Siochana has no further comment at this time.”
