Gardaí face threat of 'unknown' people buying guns on Dark Web
The commissioner also said he was 'absolutely satisfied' with the garda investigation into three young men, who were put under a surveillance and undercover police operation after one of them, Evan Fitzgerald (pictured), tried to import semi-automatic weapons and ammunition from the Dark Web. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
Specialist gardaí are faced with a growing threat from the increased accessibility of high-powered weapons on the Dark Web, the garda commissioner has said.
Justin Kelly warned that individuals — unconnected to organised crime and “unknown” to gardaí — can now go on the underground internet and attempt to purchase serious firepower.
The commissioner also said he was “absolutely satisfied” with the garda investigation into three young men, who were put under a surveillance and undercover police operation after one of them, Evan Fitzgerald, tried to import semi-automatic weapons and ammunition from the Dark Web.
As part of this, gardaí put in place a “controlled delivery”, replacing the firearms sought with similar decommissioned weapons.
Gardaí arrested Mr Fitzgerald and his two friends, Shane Hickey and Daniel Quinn Burke, as they drove home after paying for the delivery in March 2024.
While on bail, Mr Fitzgerald took his own life, using a firearm, outside a busy shopping centre in Carlow, in June 2025.
The garda’s handling of this case sparked serious allegations from former justice minister, senator Michael McDowell, and Labour TD Alan Kelly — who said the young men were naïve, rather than dangerous, and gardaí should have diverted them from the courts.
Mr Hickey and Mr Quinn both received a three-year sentence, suspended, last week.
Speaking at a Garda recruitment event, Mr Kelly said: “I am absolutely satisfied that the investigation was conducted properly and the way it should have been.
"We have two people convicted in relation to that, so I’m very satisfied, and again [regarding] the work of our officers in this area — it’s difficult and it's challenging and it can be dangerous — I want to compliment members of the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the work they do every day in operations like these.”
He said the case highlighted a changed landscape: “One of the big changes in recent years is that it is easier for people to buy weapons online, on the Dark Web, and we’ve got to counter this.
“These are challenges we didn’t have before. Previously you’d need to have a lot of contacts to get firearms. Now you can go onto the Dark Web and do it, so we certainly have to change and pivot in how we deal with cases like that.”
In addition, many of those going onto the underground net had no prior dealings with gardaí, he said. “Some challenges, of individuals like this, they are not known to us previously."
He said, online, people have a range of methods to remain anonymous, which agencies have to try and “get around”.
In relation to the upcoming EU presidency, starting on July 1, the commissioner said he was “really satisfied” with the amount of preparation they have carried out.
“There are a number of threats to the presidency," he said. "We’ve undertaken a full threat assessment, we’ve taken a number of steps to mitigate those threats, around training and building our capacity in certain areas.
“I’m absolutely satisfied we are ready. We’ve learned from EU colleagues who have had the presidency before, Cyprus at the moment, previously we had delegations over in Denmark, and officers from Denmark came here to us.”
- Cormac O’Keeffe is security correspondent for the
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