Gardaí get tough on burglary gangs 

Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said An Garda Síochána is now using organised crime legislation to tackle burglary gangs. Picture: iStock

Gardaí are now adopting the same high-security response to organised burglary groups as to gangland “murder teams”, An Garda Síochána’s top gang officer has said.

Detective chief superintendent Séamus Boland said travelling burglary gangs represent an equivalent threat to the public, citing the extreme risks posed in “very dangerous high speed” getaways from gardaí.

Gardaí are now using elite armed intervention squads to intercept them.

Gardaí no longer have to catch burglary gangs in the act of invading homes or transporting stolen goods after the burglaries , they are now using organised crime legislation for offences of being in a criminal gang.

Chief Supt Boland, the head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, said there are at least seven organised burglary groups operating on the island of Ireland.

Speaking at the launch of the winter phase of Operation Thor, Chief Supt Boland described those in burglary gangs as “lowest of the low of criminals” in the damage they inflict on victims and the “fear” they spread.  

"From our analysis, we have at least seven organised crime groups operating on the island of Ireland focused primarily on burglaries. These are highly organised," he said. 

In our targeting of those groups, we’re making strong use of the organised crime legislation and focusing on these groups as what they are — they are organised crime groups that are creating significant harm within our communities.

“We’ve had a number of successes, and there’s a number of investigations still ongoing. We are determined to deter these groups, bring them to justice, and determined to make it a hostile environment for them to actually operate in.

“The level of resources and interdiction [interruption and interception] efforts are the same as in the past for murder teams and the most violent organised crime groups. The officers involved in these interdictions — these are extremely high-risk operations — require specific training.”

In addition to the gang offences under the legislation, the powers of detention on arrest are up to seven days, on application to the courts.

This is significantly longer than standard criminal detention laws (24 hours).

He stressed gardaí are working together with the PSNI in joint task forces on this issue, adding that both agencies are sharing information on these outfits.

Chief Supt Boland said Ireland is “quite unique” in that the number of reported burglaries has dropped by 25% since 2022, including a 15.5% fall in the last year.

However, he warned that evidence indicated burglaries increased by a fifth over the darker nights and mornings of winter.

He urged people to lock doors and windows, keep some lights on, use timers, and have a house alarm.

He said burglars “want nothing but cash and jewellery”. He asked people suspicious of vehicles to note descriptions — including colour, make, and registration — and ring gardaí.