Gardaí swoop on East European car theft gang

GARDAÍ yesterday swooped on an eastern European gang of hardened criminals who were running a car theft and extortion racket in Dublin.

Yesterday, armed members of the force seized three handguns and a quantity of stolen property.

Five cars and one motorcycle were also recovered by gardaí.

Last night, seven Lithuanian men were being questioned at Clondalkin garda station as part of the recent garda crackdown on serious crime.

Those arrested yesterday are all in the 30s and were held for questioning under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. Gardaí from Mullingar, the Eastern Region and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation were involved in yesterday’s raids which are part of an ongoing operation aimed at stamping out serious crime by non-Irish gangs.

On Saturday, six men were arrested and high-powered cars were seized in Co Dublin.

Gardaí made the arrests as part of an investigation into a stolen car ring. The arrests happened after a garda patrol noticed a vehicle acting suspiciously near a house in Saggart.

Additional units were dispatched to the location and, in follow-up searches, six men, all non-nationals, were arrested.

All are held under Section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act at various garda stations. Three vehicles, including two high powered cars, were seized.

Gardaí believe the vehicles were stolen from locations in Carlow, Westmeath and Louth.

Gardaí have made no connection between the two gangs.