Raids target IRA man’s smuggling gang

A MAJOR cigarette and counterfeit trafficking gang led by a convicted dissident republican has been targeted in an operation by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The operation focused on a series of raids in Monaghan in which cash, in sterling and euro, worth approximately €10,000, was seized. A quantity of documents and electronic devices including mobile phones were also seized for analysis. Viagra tablets were also found, as well as evidence of illicit tobacco and alcohol smuggling.

CAB is targeting a portfolio of properties, including homes and sites, which it hopes to link to the proceeds of criminal activity.

The chief target of yesterday’s raid was a 62-year-old gang leader and former member of the IRA and Real IRA.

CAB said the organised crime gang operates along the border and is suspected of being involved in the wholesale importation of illegal cigarettes and counterfeit goods.

The gang is also thought to be a target of the National Crime Agency in the North, where the man has also been prosecuted.

The search operation by CAB in Co. Monaghan was deemed to be of sufficient risk to warrant the assistance of the Emergency Response Unit, the Garda elite armed unit.

Eight searches were conducted in Monaghan including six homes and the offices of a solicitor and an auctioneer.

Three of the homes were linked to the main target and his immediate family. The gang boss and his wife were in their home for the searches. No arrests were made.

Sources said the operation was to gather evidence relating to the purchase and ownership of properties, separate to the six homes searched. CAB believes the gang imports illicit cigarettes at an industrial level from the Far East and distributes them North and South and possibly in Britain.