Garda unit foils gang in €1.6m TVs raid
The six-man gang, led by a suspected major drug trafficker, are expected to appear before court this morning.
The crew was caught red-handed following a garda surveillance operation at the gang’s hideout in Carra, Co Kildare.
The Organised Crime Unit (OCU) conducted a surveillance operation at the house and adjoining sheds. They pounced when the gang started to unload the televisions from a stolen container.
The drug boss, a 51-year-old from Dublin’s south inner city, was one of six arrested at the scene. The man, from the Rialto area, was a “significant target” for the Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) and local gardaí in Dublin.
The OCU was alerted after the raiders stole a container from a distribution warehouse in Santry, north Dublin, at 8am.
The Garda unit had to set up a surveillance operation around the house at short notice without alerting those inside as the container was being driven south from Dublin.
The Garda team, numbering up to 60 officers, moved in quickly when the three-man gang involved in the raid and three other men, in the house, began unloading the televisions.
Gardaí have valued the televisions at between €1.2m and €1.6m. The six men, aged between 23 and 51, were detained under the Criminal Justice Act.
Pending on the approval of the DPP, the men are expected to appear in Naas District Court today.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation, officers from the GNDU, together with local drug units from Clondalkin and Ballyfermot, arrested three men and seized up to 6kg of what is thought to be heroin. If forensic tests confirm it is heroin, its street value could be up to €1.2m.
The three men arrested, aged 32, 35 and 50 were detained under the Drug Trafficking Act, which allow for six days’ detention.
