A garda informant who betrayed a notorious west Dublin crime gang has been found dismembered and dumped in a canal in Amsterdam.

The Sunday Tribune understands that 30-year-old Keith Ennis was murdered after tipping off gardaí about a major drugs factory in Walkinstown in October 2007.

The information resulted in the seizure of cocaine with an estimated value of €100,000 and five firearms belonging to associates of leading criminal Mark Desmond.

Desmond (33) was charged with the murders of Patrick Murray and Darren Carey, who were shot and dumped in the Grand Canal in Co Kildare in December 1999.

The charges were dropped by the DPP on the day the trial was due to begin and nobody else was ever prosecuted. In October 2007, Keith Ennis, a father of one, was stopped by gardaí from Pearse Street in possession of €16,000 cash.

A few days later, detectives went to his apartment in Clondalkin to give him a receipt for the seized money and discovered he was in possession of a loaded Glock pistol and €2,000 worth of cocaine. When he was taken into custody he gave gardaí valuable information about the drugs gang he was working for. It was led by a man from Clondalkin who is now serving a lengthy sentence for manslaughter and by a major drug dealer from Co Kildare.

As a result of the intelligence given by Ennis, gardaí raided an industrial estate in Walkinstown and three

handguns two sawn-off shotguns and €100,000 worth of cocaine. While gardaí were still at the premises, two men appeared to collect the drugs and were arrested and charged.

The drugs gang realised Ennis had informed on them. After he was charged with being in possession of the gun and cocaine, he promptly left the country for his own safety.

It is believed he first went to Spain and then to Holland. Three weeks ago, Dutch police recovered a body in a canal in Amsterdam. The victim had been stabbed to death and dismembered before being dumped in a suitcase.

The remains were identified only after the Dutch authorities sent DNA and fingerprints of the man to gardaí who were able to verify his identity.

It is believed the Dutch police are investigating the possibility the dead man fell out with local criminals over an unpaid drug debt although they have not ruled out Irish involvement.

Police still do not know where Ennis was murdered and gardaí are cooperating with the investigation.

The dead man had a small number of criminal convictions for minor offences. There was an outstanding arrest warrant after he fled the country after being charged with the drugs and gun offences.