Man stopped in Wicklow found to be wanted in Germany, court hears

A man stopped at a Garda checkpoint in Co Wicklow was found to be wanted in Germany after a search of a newly-introduced EU information system, the High Court has heard.

Vasile Jelecuteam (44), who is Romanian, was stopped at the checkpoint at Kilmacanogue just after 12am on Monday morning and appeared before the High Court later in the day.

Garda Margaret Fennelly, of Bray Garda station, told the court that a black Jaguar vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint at about 12.05am and that she checked Mr Jelecuteam's identification and driver's licence through the Garda Pulse and SIS II (Schengen Information System). The search revealed that there was a European Arrest Warrant in place for Mr Jelecuteam from Germany.

Under the processes of the Schengen Information System (SIS II), which Ireland joined on March 15th, the details of the alleged offence have yet to be supplied to the High Court.

Mr Justice Paul Burns remanded Mr Jelecuteam in custody until March 31st, with a bail hearing listed for Thursday of this week.

The SIS II system allows for the automated, simultaneous and immediate exchange of information across 26 EU countries and four others in the form of alerts.

Last week, two males – one Polish and one Slovakian – were arrested in Ireland on foot of European warrants in eastern Europe under the system.

The SIS II alert contains three elements: identifying information on the person, object, or vehicle sought; a statement on why the person is sought, and the action to be taken when the person or object is found.

If a person, or object, is discovered in another country using SIS II, a hit is recorded and is immediately available to all authorities using the system.

There are 30 countries connected to SIS II – the 26 EU states and Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

In 2019, there were 120,000 missing person records shared on SIS II and more than 40,000 alerts for persons wanted by countries connected to the system.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said that "accessing such information means that An Garda Síochána can swiftly deal with issues of serious crime with potential links to other European countries".