Gardaí in frantic search for gun that fell out of patrol car
■ Two probes launched into incident ■ Woman picked up and returned bag
TWO investigations are under way into an incident in which a sub-machine gun and a large cache of ammunition in a carrier bag fell out of the boot of an unmarked car, used by members of an elite Garda specialist unit.
The bag was spotted on the ground by a woman, who put it into her car and handed it over at a Garda station 25 minutes later.
In the meantime, officers from the Armed Response Unit carried out a frantic search of the area, where the bag had disappeared and checked with nearby Garda stations before they learned it had been recovered.
An immediate investigation into the incident was ordered by Det Chief Supt Gerry Russell, who is in charge of Stoc (Special tactics and operations command), to establish the circumstances in which the boot of the car opened and the bag fell onto the street.
A separate inquiry was launched yesterday afternoon by the Garda Ombudsman Commission, which said it had become aware of the temporary loss of the submachine gun from an official Garda vehicle through media reports.
In the absence of any Garda notification or complaint from a member of the public, it said it had decided to launch what it called a public interest inquiry.
However, under the regulations there is no obligation on the Garda force to inform the Ombudsman of such an incident unless the weapon has been discharged or somebody has been injured.
The Ombudsman said it was concerned about the reports in the media and the apparent lack of security that these reports suggest. “The commission is of the view that an independent investigation is necessary to ensure public confidence in the civilian oversight of policing in a time of increased armed gardaí in Dublin city, in particular,” the Ombudsman added.
Ramp
The incident took place at 5.30pm on Tuesday. Three vehicles, including an Audi Q7, carrying two members of the Armed Support Unit, were leaving an underground car park at the Garda complex at Harcourt Square. The vehicles must pass over a ramp as they are driven out.
The Audi, which was setting out on routine patrols around the centre of Dublin as part of the increased Garda activity in the capital in the wake of the Kinahan-Hutch feud, had turned into the traffic on Harcourt Street-Hatch Street when the gardaí realised the boot of the vehicle had opened.
They saw a woman picking up an official Garda carrier bag from the road. It contained one of their standard weapons, a Heckler and Koch MP7 sub-machine gun and a large haul of ammunition.
By the time the driver had managed to turn the vehicle in the heavy teatime traffic, the woman had disappeared with the bag.
The gardaí frantically searched the immediate area and also checked with local stations at Pearse Street and Kevin Street to find out if the bag had been handed in.
At 5.55pm they were told that the woman had put the bag into her car and drove to Store Street station where she gave the bag to local officers.
She said she had not examined the contents of the bag but realised it belonged to gardaí.