A man and a woman are being questioned over the alleged murder of the former IRA assassin Kevin McGuigan, who was shot dead in Belfast earlier this week.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said a 44-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman had been arrested in east Belfast on Thursday in connection with the killing.
They were detained a short distance from where McGuigan was gunned down on Wednesday night in front of his wife in the Catholic enclave of Short Strand.
He had feared for his life after being accused of murdering Gerard “Jock” Davison, a former IRA colleague, in the Markets area of central Belfast in May. The killing has further destabilised the already fragile power-sharing executive at Stormont.
Northern Ireland’s first minister, Peter Robinson, warned on Thursday that Sinn Féin could be expelled from the coalition if IRA involvement in the killing was proven. But Sinn Féin’s former lord mayor of Belfast, Alex Maskey, vehemently denied any IRA connection.
McGuigan’s mother, Margaret, 75, said she would pray for her son’s killers and said they would have to live with what they had done.
She said: “He was a loving son, father and brother. He never got into trouble or a row. He never started a row in his life. He was a great son. He would do anything for anybody, neighbours and all.”
Republicans in Belfast have repeatedly blamed McGuigan for Davison’s murder. He was shot dead in Welsh Street while walking to a local community group where he worked. He is believed to have been personally responsible for ordering the deaths of up to 15 men from the early 1990s onwards, many of whom were accused of drug-dealing within nationalist areas of Northern Ireland.
Davidson is also accused of giving the order to attack Robert McCartney that resulted in the forklift truck driver’s death outside a bar in Belfast a decade ago.
