Top drugs cop says gun seizures have saved lives

Detective Superintendent Pat Byrne of the Garda National Drugs Unit said today recent gun seizures had saved lives, with some intercepted weapons known to have been destined for Limerick.

Speaking in Belfast at a conference of senior police officers held to discuss the issue of narcotics, Byrne said there were now a lot less weapons on the streets.

“We know where the guns were destined and we know some of the guns were headed for Limerick,” he added. Gardaí have seized more than 200 firearms from Limerick’s feuding gangs since 2005, with annual gun seizures rising more than three-fold over the past four years.

Gun crime in Limerick, culminating in the shooting dead of Shane Geoghegan, 28, earlier this month, has caused public outrage.

Byrne’s comments in Belfast were however separate from that investigation. He said: “I cannot refer to any particular cases currently before the courts.

“We are satisfied that we have made inroads into dealing with organised crime and removing drugs and guns from the streets and will continue to do that.”

Attendees at the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) conference on narcotics in Belfast also heard that the end of violence in the North has made it easier for drugs smugglers to ply their trade on both sides of the border.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) drugs squad head Garry Clarke said drug gangs north and south of the border were profiting from normalised security arrangements.

“The opening of the border certainly creates more opportunity for people to travel, that is undoubtedly the way, but I don’t think that it’s increased exponentially from what it would have been at the time of the Troubles when we would have had roads blocked off, we would have had vehicle checkpoints,” he said.

“Where there is a will there is a way.

“With peace those roads have now opened and with it I would suggest the risk of getting caught has decreased which makes it an opportunity for the criminals involved.”

The detective superintendent said he enjoyed good cooperation with his colleagues from An Garda Síochána, despite legislation meaning that his force could not pursue criminals across the border.

Clarke said there was 360km (224 miles) of border to be policed and pointed out that neither the UK nor Ireland had signed the Schengen Agreement which would allow both forces to cross the border.

He added people were using courier-style services to bring drugs across.

“There is evidence to support that the island is and can be used by criminals to bring drugs into other parts of the UK and Europe,” he said.