Six fugitives arrested by Gardaí sought by Poland

Crimes cover a range of serious offences, including murder, drug trafficking, membership of a crime gang and various fraud and thefts offences

Mon, 27 Jun, 2022 - 20:30

Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent

A fugitive wanted in the UK for assisting in a murder is among 12 people before the courts following an operation conducted by the Garda Extradition Unit.

Six of the 12 wanted are being sought by judicial authorities in Poland, with a further two people requested by officials in Romania.

The dozen suspects were arrested in a swoop conducted by the Extradition Unit between Tuesday and Thursday of last week.

The crimes cover a range of serious offences, including murder, drug trafficking, membership of a crime gang and various fraud and thefts offences.

A breakdown of the 12 cases shows:

UK — assisting an offender to commit murder;
Hungary — fraud;
Croatia — aggravated larcency;
Poland — drug supply;
Poland — handing stolen property;
Poland — threats to kill, robbery and theft;
Poland — drugs trafficking;
Poland — assault/battery;
Poland — forgery/fraud;
Romania — membership of organised crime group and smuggling;
Romania — fraud;
Czech Republic — theft.

“Between Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23 June, 2022, an operation was conducted by the Extradition Unit at the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation [NBCI] targeting wanted fugitives, with a focus on those fugitives who pose a risk to local communities,” a Garda statement said.

Detective Superintendent Michael Mullen, NBCI, added: “The purpose of the operation over the last number of days was to locate and arrest fugitives, with a focus on those fugitives who pose a risk to local communities.”

All 12 persons appeared at the Extradition High Court in Dublin.

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