Gardaí hitting the middle and lower ranks as a tactic to flush out gang bosses

There’s always a temptation to say a major drugs haul represents a ‘significant blow’ to the crime gang being hit. Researchers have long complained of the tendency of the media, and gardaí, to make such claims, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

Insiders suggest there are more important issues: The significance of the people arrested (whether they are so-called gillies or major players), whether the operation uncovers a new form of smuggling (such as inside a car engine, as happened recently) or smuggling route, and if the seizure is an isolated success or one of a series of interceptions.

More important is whether or not the seizures are part of a wider strategy to hit all activities of the particular gang — such as arrests and prosecutions for murders and attempted assassinations and investigations targeting their wealth and money-laundering activities.