THIRTEEN PEOPLE have been arrested as part of a major Garda operation into an organised crime gang specialising in distraction theft including ATM fraud, pick-pocketing and other thefts from the person.
A team of gardaí, accompanied by interpreters, yesterday morning raided 19 addresses on the North Circular Road and Marlborough Road, Dublin 1.
Eight people, including six men and two women, were arrested at the properties searched.
The suspects are aged between 16 years and 30 years and are all Romanian nationals.
A small amount of stolen property and small quantities of illegal drugs were found during the searches.
The suspects were arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and were questioned at Store Street and Mountjoy Garda stations.
Yesterday afternoon a further five people, three men and two women, were arrested in a follow-up operation. They are all in their 20s and are also Romanian nationals.
Yesterday’s arrests were part of Operation Hawkeye II, a joint investigation involving the Garda National Immigration Bureau and gardaí from Store Street station.
The operation was established two months ago in response to a significant increase in thefts from people in Dublin city centre.
The thefts have involved pick-pocketing and stealing money from people at ATMs by distracting them as their cash withdrawal is being dispensed.
Chief Supt Mick Feehan said a number of people had been targeted in the city centre by “organised criminals”.
Some of the distraction thefts at the ATMs have targeted drunk people late at night or shoppers laden down with bags.
In most cases young children have been schooled by adults to wave a newspaper in the faces of targets.
When the victim momentarily turns away from the ATM, a juvenile accomplice reaches in and grabs the dispensed notes.
Other thefts have involved the skimming of ATM cards using illegal devices fitted to ATMs.
