THE ONLY WAY IS ASSETS
CAB celebrates 25 years of hitting crims where it hurts
THE Criminal Assets Bureau has identified 35 people living outside of the country whom they are targeting — as criminals have been denied and deprived of almost €200m since its establishment.
And a further 1,851 targets have been identified nationally, with half of these targets residing in the Dublin area, the bureau’s head Detective Chief Superintendent
Michael Gubbins revealed.
Since it s establishment 25 years ago, CAB is one of the most successful weapons in the
State’s armoury against organised crime, having denied and d eprived criminals o f almost €200m and seized assets to the value of
€165m.
“Thirty-five of our targets live outside of the country and we are not identifying who they are or where they are,” said Det Chief Supt Gubbins at Garda Headquarters yesterday, marking 25 years since the establishment of the CAB.
“Generally our targets only become aware of us when we arrive at their doors in the early hours of the morning.”
Set up in 1996 in the wake of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin at the hands of known gangsters and the killing of Detective Jerry McCabe just 19 days prior in a botched robbery of a mail van in Adare, Co Limerick, the bureau aims to deprive criminals of the assets they had accumulated through their criminal activity.
When the bureau was formed it began with a modest budget of just over £ 800,000 (€1m) — but has substantially increased its budget and influence in the 25 years since to € 9. 96m, an increase of 845 per cent.
Cash
During CAB’s i n fancy, the types of assets s e ized were cash, money in bank accounts, jewel lery and property.
Twenty-five years on, the asset types have evolved as the criminal world has advanced to i nclude high-value vehicles, the utilisation of the motor trade for criminals to launder money, luxury designer items, boats, yachts and livestock.
And 2015 saw the CAB’s first cryptocurrency seizure, as the evolution of criminal assets saw Bitcoin seized.