Garda raids on ‘ruthless’ gang y ields €31k in cash
Gardaí seized Rolex watches worth €25k
GARDAÍ attached to the Criminal Assets Bureau have seized 4x4s, gold Rolex watches and cash totalling €31,500 in raids targeting a ruthless Traveller crime gang.
The Cork gang are members of an extended Traveller family of ‘well-organised’ criminals involved in burglaries, theft, fraud, extortion, handling stolen property and recent attacks terrorising elderly people across Munster.
Detectives also seized dozens of pairs of Ugg boots, still boxed, as well as gym equipment and various knives. Yesterday’s haul was displayed in photos released by An Garda Síochána.
More than 50 gardaí, CAB officers and members of the Revenue Commissioners – supported by heavily armed elite gardaí – were involved in the raids, which targeted a number of properties across the north side of Cork city and adjacent areas in the county.
Eleven searches were conducted on seven homes, a plot of land and three professional offices, including solicitors and accountants.
Following the searches, ten vehicles, worth more than €400,000, were seized. These included Toyota 4x4 LandCruisers. Gardaí also found cash, as well as four gold Rolex watches, believed to be worth almost €25,000.
A well-placed source said one objective of the raid was seizing documentation and computer records tracing the gang’s network. Detectives are hopeful that the documents, computers and mobile phones will help bring a ‘considerable case’ against the gang.
The operation had been planned for almost two months and was initiated in tandem with an escalation in the gang’s criminal activities across Cork, Waterford, Tipperary and Kerry.
Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Clavin described it yesterday as ‘a significant operation’. He added: ‘The search operation is a significant development in the CAB investigation and is viewed as a major disruption of the activities of this gang.’
Yesterday’s raids, which began overnight, followed an intelligenceled operation over a number of months.
Sources say the gang are ‘prolific’ burglars and are also involved in theft, handling stolen property and extortion. They are believed to be linked to a significant number of major thefts across south Munster.
Notably, the gang have been involved in scams targeting the elderly and vulnerable.
A Garda spokesman said: ‘This crime gang use various paving, gardening and landscaping businesses to target the elderly and vulnerable people to deceive them of money.
‘They use intimidation to instil fear and charge exorbitant rates for substandard work. They are also suspected of extorting large sums of cash from elderly and vulnerable people for unnecessary work.’
While no arrests were made, the operation represents a major escalation of the Garda crackdown on organised crime. A source said it was ‘the first step in trying to put [the gang] out of business’.