POLICE investigating the murder of Kevin McGuigan have charged a man with a firearms offence.
The 53-year-old is due to appear before Lisburn Magistrates Court today charged with having a gun with intent to endanger life. Last night a 26-year-old man was arrested and four other people – including Shankill bomber Sean Kelly – were released.
The Irish News has learned that two guns seized by police investigating the murder of Kevin McGuigan are not thought to be the murder weapons.
It comes as a senior republican, who once stood trial for the murders of notorious UDA killers Raymond Elder and Joe Bratty, has been arrested by detectives investigating the shooting of the former IRA prisoner.
Sean Clinton was arrested in west Belfast on Wednesday morning as police continue to investigate the murder of the father-of-nine who was gunned down outside his east Belfast home over a week ago.
Two gunmen shot Mr McGuigan a number of times as he tried to open a security gate at his house in Comber Court in the Short Strand last Wednesday night.
McGuigan was the leading suspect in the murder of former IRA commander Gerard 'Jock' Davison who was shot dead in the Markets area of south Belfast in May of this year.
Six people, five men and one woman, are currently in custody facing questioning about the McGuigan killing which is believed to have been carried out in retaliation for the murder of Jock Davison.
In 1996, Clinton who at that time had an address in the Markets area, was found not guilty of the IRA murder of the the two leading loyalists shot dead in a car on the Ormeau Road in July, 1994.
The pair had been linked to numerous sectarian killings including the attack on Sean Graham's bookmakers on the Ormeau in which five people died.
The 49-year-old is being questioned by detectives about the shooting at Antrim serious crime suite.
Shankill bomber Sean Kelly also remains in custody after being arrested for questioning about the killing. He was arrested from his home in the New Lodge area of north Belfast on Tuesday morning. Police will need to apply for an extension if they want to to hold him any longer than 48 hours without charge.
Kelly was sentenced to life in prison for the 1993 Shankill bombing that killed nine Protestants and IRA bomber Thomas Begley. He was released from prison in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Among the others being questioned are a veteran republican and lifelong friend of Jock Davison as well as a man from a well-known republican family originally from the Markets area of south Belfast. The 39-year-old woman arrested is believed to have links through marriage to the Davison family.
Two guns recovered during follow up searches on Tuesday evening are being examined by forensic experts as part of the overall investigation but it not thought that they were the weapons used in the killing.
McGuigan was himself a former IRA man who was involved in the cover group Direct Action Against Drugs that was responsible for killing around a dozen high profile criminals in the 1990s. He later fell foul of the organisation and was shot on the ankles and hands in a punishment style shooting.
There have been fears of further retaliation with a son of the murdered man, Kevin McGuigan jnr, having also been warned that he is also under threat.
Several hundred people attended Mr McGuigan's funeral at St Matthew's Church in east Belfast on Tuesday. Fr John Nevin told mourners; "Violence, war and revenge does not solve problems but creates more. The circle goes on".
