GardaÍ have recommended that the leader of a notorious drugs gang involved in a feud that has led to 11 murders be charged with possession of €1m-worth of heroin, even though he is currently serving a lengthy jail sentence and never handled the drugs.

In a landmark file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Organised Crime Unit has requested the leader of one of the feuding gangs be charged with the "controlled possession" of five kilos of heroin.

This is despite the fact the gang leader not been free for several years and will not be released for several more. He is in jail for a number of very serious offences and cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Last month gardaí in Crumlin, in Dublin, stopped a man with €1m-worth of heroin, along with mixing agents and other paraphernalia. Along with the haul was a mobile phone. One of the numbers had the initials of the crime boss who gardaí believe the man was working for.

Phone records showed that the gang leader had been in regular contact with the drug dealer and when detectives raided the criminal's jail cell they caught him in the middle of a call using an illegal mobile phone.

They also recovered a further two sim cards and one of those cards was the number that had been in communication with the drug dealer who was caught with the heroin.

The gang leader was arrested and refused to communicate with gardaí. Officers suspect that the drugs mule has transported a total of three shipments of heroin with a street value of €3m on behalf of his boss.

Officers believe this statement is evidence that the serious criminal has been masterminding widespread drug trafficking from his prison cell and they have received legal advice that there is enough evidence to charge him with controlled possession, despite the fact that he never touched the drugs personally.

They are hopeful that the DPP will agree to press ahead with the charges but the criminal will certainly be charged with the illegal possession of a mobile in prison, an offence that carries a penalty of additional five years.

Gardaí have always suspected the man has continued to run his gang from prison but this is the first concrete evidence they have obtained.

His gang has been involved in a bitter dispute with the outfit led by 'Fat' Freddie Thompson, a 27-year-old drug dealer from Drimnagh.

Eleven people have died as part of the feud which has its origins in a batch of cocaine being seized by gardaí in 2001.

This led to accusations that a member of the gang was an informer, splitting the gang in two.

Freddie Thompson's gang shot a close associate of the prison drug dealer in Clondalkin last week and tensions in Crumlin and Drimnagh continue to be high. Thompson is still laying low in Spain trying to avoid three 'contracts' on his life.