Gardaí arrest 27 in blitz on metal thieves

Gardaí arrested 27 people — and recovered 1,000 stolen beer kegs — as part of a Europe-wide crackdown on the lucrative trade in stolen metal.

The beer keg haul — valued at up to €100,000 — was recovered in an operation led by the elite Organised Crime Unit, which conducted more than 70 searches in Wicklow, Dublin and Cavan.

The EU operation, co-ordinated by Europol, involved 20 countries and 8,300 checks and searches at scrap metal dealers.