The f lying beggars
Organised gangs jetting in to Ireland are hitting rural areas as the gardaí clamp down in Dublin
ORGANISED beggars flying into Dublin are ‘spreading their tentacles’ around the country after a clampdown by gardaí pushed them out of the capital, the Mail on Sunday has learned.
While gardaí remain vigilant for begging by organised gangs in Dublin, they say the numbers have declined hugely in the capital following an intensive clampdown.
‘There was a flight from Romania not so long ago and the plane was full of beggars,’ a source told the MoS. ‘While we still have a smattering of them in Dublin, and they are still coming in, they are moving around the country.’
The source added that they spread out because they know there are fewer resources in the country.
This week, a garda superintendent told the Joint Policing Committee meeting that gardaí found return airline tickets to Romania in the possession of members of a group who were arrested in Cork city for obstruction, and who were later prosecuted for offences under begging legislation. Last month, a Galway judge asked if people were being ‘trafficked’ into the country to beg after 12 Romanians with addresses in Dublin were found begging in Galway, while beggars were also arrested and charged in Roscommon after it was found they had flown into Dublin with return tickets.
During the summer, a court heard people were flocking to Galway to beg because there are ‘easy pickings’ to be had during the summer months. The court heard one man had come to Galway ‘immediately’ after flying into Dublin.
A source told the MoS that extended families are organising the begging. Detectives conducted an operation in Dublin into begging a number of years back, but could not prove the people were being trafficked in to beg for a cartel.
‘The gardaí discovered a huge amount of money going through Western Union. Over €100,000 was tracked at the time. We were being overrun with them in Dublin at the time. They would stay for a month or two and then vanish,’ he said.
Chief Supt Barry McPolin of Anglesea Street Garda station revealed at a Joint Policing Committee meeting this week, they suspect a Romanian group is organising begging in Cork with members flying in from Bucharest to Dublin, and travelling to Leeside to beg.
‘We have secured some evidence to suggest that some elements of these people who are involved in begging are organised. Some of the prosecutions which have now been dealt with involved people who had purchased flight tickets from Romania to here, and they had return tickets as well,’ he said.
Among those recently prosecuted for begging was Romanian national Grigoie Feraru, 23, who pleaded guilty at Cork District Court to three counts of begging within two days. He received the Probation Act for one offence, a €150 fine on another and a suspended month in jail for the third.
Sgt Alan Cronin told Cork District Court that gardaí found an invoice on Feraru for return flights for himself and five others from Romania to Dublin. He told gardaí it was cheaper to book as a group and he had paid €185 as did the others, but he could not explain why the invoice was in his name.
Last month, Judge Mary Fahy in Galway said she would like to know who is organising the begging.
‘Are people being trafficked to do this? It’s more serious to be using people to beg and it’s a criminal offence to beg.
‘What I suspect is when someone gets a sentence, someone else with no previous convictions is recruited to take his place. They think they are quite clever,’ she observed.
‘We were being overrun with them in the capital’