Car driven at gardaí in attempt to evade checkpoint

GARDAÍ believe they have located a car that was driven at officers who attempted to stop it at a checkpoint, forcing them to open fire on it.

The car was one of two vehicles members of the Organised Crime Unit had under surveillance before the incident near Ballymore Eustace in Co Kildare at 6.30pm on Sunday.

Another car was successfully stopped and its driver arrested.

The 30-year-old man was detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Naas Garda Station and he remained in custody last night. Under the act, he can be held until early this evening before he must be charged or released.

A gun and several thousand euro in cash were recovered in the operation which gardaí said was part of ongoing investigations into the activities of known targets involved in organised crime.

The driver of the second car managed to evade detention when he drove at officers who fired several shots in an attempt to stop him. No one was hurt but a garda source said: “The car was driven at them in a way that they could have been killed if they hadn’t got out of the way in time.”

Forensics experts are examining both suspect vehicles and the search for the second driver is continuing.

The incident came just days after members of the Garda National Drugs Unit seized €2.4 million worth of heroin — the biggest haul in four years. It is not known if the two incidents are related.

Gardaí are continuing to make the breaking up of organised crime gangs a priority. Figures released last month showed there had been 127 arrests relating to organised crime over the past year alone.