GARDAÍ HAVE launched the latest in a series of so-called super raids against an organised crime gang they believe has been stealing power tools and electrical equipment in Ireland and the UK for sale here.
The gang at the centre of the raids are settled Travellers based in Co Mayo with extensive contacts in the UK.
Gardaí have seized a Mercedes and Range Rover from the gang, along with cash in euro and sterling to the value of €100,000.
A preliminary trawl of bank accounts linked to the men has uncovered a further €150,000 in deposits.
Gardaí are investigating these assets as the suspected proceeds of crime.
A team of more than 70 gardaí began raiding premises around Ballina and near Knock, both in Co Mayo, at about 7.30am yesterday.
Eleven premises were raided, including six houses and the offices of legal and financial services companies. Documentation was seized from the professionals’ offices.
The vehicles confiscated were found at two of the houses that were searched.
The seized documentation is being studied in the hope it will lead officers to other assets that can be seized from the gang.
Garda sources said the gang members, who are all members of one extended family, have built very large houses in the north Mayo area over recent years.
The origins of the money used to build the houses, the substantial cash reserves and the buying of the expensive vehicles are being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab).
Gardaí trained as assets profilers have been studying the gang for more than a year, and drew up a profile of their assets and expenditures.
It was largely based on their report to Cab that yesterday morning’s raids were planned.
Officers from the bureau took part in the searches.
The 70-strong search team also comprised local detectives and uniformed gardaí. Members of the armed regional support unit and divisional search teams were also present.
The gardaí involved in the raid met in Ballina at 6am yesterday, and were at premises identified for searching by 7.30am.
While no arrests were made yesterday, Garda sources said the purpose of the operation was to gather evidence on the gang’s wealth with a view to building a strong assets-confiscation case against them.
“We believe they’ve been involved in the robberies of expensive power tools and goods like plasma TVs and then selling them at markets and other places here,” said one source.
Yesterday’s operation was headed by Assistant Commissioner John O’Mahoney, who is in charge of policing in the west.
The raids are the latest against organised crime in the west. Earlier this month gardaí in Galway targeted a gang that had been smuggling cocaine into the State for sale across the midwest and into the Dublin market.
The gang had been operating from houses in Gort and Annaghdown in north Galway.
Cocaine with a street value of up to €3 million, along with some €100,000 in cash, was seized during the two related Galway operations.