Gardaí in Cork have arrested a 27-year-old man for questioning after he was found with a loaded rifle walking through a residential area on the outskirts of Cork city yesterday afternoon.
The man was arrested for firearms offences after he crashed a stolen jeep on Spring Hill in Glanmire on the outskirts of Cork city around 5pm on Wednesday afternoon.
Two gardaí from Mayfield were on duty in the area when a passing motorist stopped to inform them that there had a crash on Spring Hill near Glanmire Church.
They found a crashed Pajero jeep and saw a young man leaving the scene armed with a rifle.
The uniformed officers, who were unarmed, disarmed the young man and confiscated the rifle which turned out to be loaded.
They arrested the young man, who is from the Mayfield area, and brought him to Gurranebraher Garda Station for questioning.
Gardaí established that the man had stolen a car in Thurles in Co Tipperary earlier that afternoon and had crashed the car on the N8 motorway.
The man then came upon the Pajero jeep in a field near Cashel and decided to steal it, discovering the rifle in the back of the vehicle before he headed back towards Cork.
The man drove back to Glanmire where he pulled into Grandon’s Garage where he filled up the jeep with diesel before attempting to drive off without paying.
However the man crashed the jeep into a petrol pump, demolishing the pump and causing several thousand euros worth of damage before heading towards Spring Hill where he crashed again.
The man was arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to seven days before they have to be charged or released.
