Cash and jewellery found as search for burglar gang continues

As wide-scale searches continued in West Limerick last night for three members of a Cork City-based burglar gang, gardaí discovered a large quantity of cash and jewellery discarded in a field.

The money and jewellery was stolen in house break-ins earlier this week in Co Limerick.

One member of the Traveller gang, aged 23, who was arrested on Tuesday will appear at Limerick District Court this morning.

He and the three others are suspected of being involved in burglaries on Monday and Tuesday at Martinstown, Ballyneety and Pallsagreen.

Garda search teams were yesterday backed up by the Garda helicopter and armed members of the Regional Support Unit as they combed wide tracts of bogland and forests near the village of Raheenagh.

The three men abandoned a black Volvo with a false ‘D’ registration before they took off through open countryside on Tuesday. They drove into a Garda checkpoint set up under an operation mounted in Cork, Kerry and Limerick to tackle known gangs roaming the three counties.

The car which was originally registered in England, was not stolen and gardaí believe it may yield vital clues in the investigation which is a joint Limerick/Cork operation. It is being forensically examined.

Gangs have been responsible for a spate of burglaries in the Limerick area in recent weeks and gardaí are confident developments this week will help deliver a major blow to mobile criminals drawn from various Traveller families living in Cork City.

A Garda spokesman said: “Our people in Cork and Limerick are working very closely on this investigation and we are confident of more arrests.”