Fears rise over Cork clothes collection gangs

SENIOR gardaí fear “a bloodbath” may ensue following attacks on a Cork-based gang which controls most of the estimated nationwide “€1 million a week” export of used clothing to eastern Europe.

Tit-for-tat fire-bombings on vans controlled by three different groups from eastern Europe involved in used clothing collections have put gardaí on alert to a possible escalation of the dispute.

The so-called Godfather Gang, based in Cork, has up to 30 vans and trucks operating around the country and a chain of “supposed legitimate high street stores” in the Baltic states which sell the clothes, much of which come from householders who think they are leaving them out for bona fide charities or aid organisations.