Irish police expect to charge the leader of a South Armagh gang with the murder of detective Adrian Donohoe.

Officers are currently waiting on the extradition of two of the suspects from the United States.

The pair have been interviewed in New York by Irish police with the co-operation of the FBI.

The Irish force expect the pair to be extradited when their holiday visas expire shortly.

And the Irish Independent claims that they expect to charge the leader of the five man gang responsible for Detective Donohoe’s death after a robbery at a credit union with murder.

Approaching the first anniversary of the death in County Louth, the paper says the four other gang members involved will face serious charges including possession of firearms and attempted robbery.

Father of two Donohoe was shot at close range without warning by one gang member as he got out of his unmarked patrol car in the credit union car park.

Investigators told the paper that footage of the incident shows that the gunman, who has been identified, clearly intended killing the officer.

Senior sources told the Irish Independent: “The investigation is quietly making steady progress in building a case against the south Armagh gang.”

The paper adds that it is understood that vital information about their movements before and after the attempted robbery has been gleaned in recent months. This new evidence contradicts the gang’s version of events in interviews with Northern Ireland police offers..

A source told the paper: “This has always been a very difficult murder investigation, which will take time to solve, but everyone is confident the culprits will be brought to justice.”

The report says two of the five suspects are brothers and all the gang members have close links to the GAA and Republicanism in south Armagh.

The source added: “One member of the gang deliberately shot Adrian Donohoe dead and it is possible that the others had no intention of killing anyone but they need to come forward before they also face murder charges.”