Jewellers relieved as crime gang suspects arrested
The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau carried out a series of searches across Dublin early yesterday and arrested five suspects.
The Retail Jewellers of Ireland said some of their members, and owners of shops who are not part of the organisation, have been subjected to “terrifying” burglaries in recent years.
A Garda spokesman said the searches were part of an “extensive investigation into Romanian Organised Criminal Groups involved in the aggravated burglaries of jewellery shops throughout the country, during the course of which staff members were assaulted”.
Searches were conducted in Balbriggan, Donabate, Blanchardstown and the north inner city. The five arrested, all aged in their mid 30s, have been detained and computer equipment and phones have been seized.
“Congratulations to the Garda Síochána,” said Alison Browne, president of Retail Jewellers of Ireland. “Jewellers would be hugely relieved about this operation. A number of our members, and a few that are not our members, have been subjected to terrifying aggravated burglaries. It is reassuring for the industry that the gardaí are catching up with these people.”
Damien Duggan of Duggan Jewellers in Fairview, Dublin, said a close friend and fellow jeweller had recently been “walloped” over the head as he knelt down to open a case for such a gang.
