Gardaí seize 11 firearms including machine guns from Polish gang

Gang is suspected of offering 'services' to Irish gangs from selling firearms to collecting debts

Some of the machine guns and pistols seized by gardaí. Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis said the seizures represented a 'significant disruption of organised criminal activity'. Picture: An Garda Síochána/PA

An Garda Síochána have seized 11 military-grade firearms — including three machine guns — from a major Polish gang suspected of supplying criminal services to Irish outfits.

These “services” include selling firearms to Irish gangs and collecting debts for them.

“This is a serious and violent crew and gardaí are doing their best to bring them down,” one security source told the Irish Examiner.

The leader of the outfit is currently locked up in high-security conditions in an Irish prison.

Despite this, he is suspected of orchestrating his business from his cell on smuggled mobile phones.

He is locked up with serious Irish criminals belonging to different gangs.

The Polish gang, based in the Midlands, is a top target for specialist garda units, who have recently carried out a number of arrest operations against members.

Security sources said the quantity and nature of firearms seized — particularly the scale of devastation and death the weapons could cause — was very significant.

Gardaí also seized ammunition and silencers.

“This is a very good catch for us,” one source said. 

These are military-type firearms, together with magazines and silencers, so they were ready to be used. 

Two men — one Polish, one Irish from Kildare — were arrested in operations across counties Laois and Kildare over this weekend.

'Crime as a service'

Europol, the EU police agency, has in recent years highlighted the emergence of 'crime as a service' and 'violence as a service' gangs that provide a range of specialist services — from cybercrime to murder — to other gangs.

Europol said this structure provides the instigators of the crime, or violence, with cover from being implicated by investigators by “outsourcing” it to an outfit with no direct connection with the target.

The full array of photos issued by An Garda Síochána of the weapons they seized during an operation targeting organised crime in Laois and Kildare. Picture: An Garda Síochána/PA

A statement issued by Garda HQ said the seizures took place at a number of locations in Laois and Kildare over the weekend July 10-12.

The operation was led by the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau, supported by personnel from the Garda Eastern Region, the Dublin Crime Response Team and the Emergency Response Unit.

Searches were conducted at six locations in the Laois and Kildare areas, which resulted in the seizure of 11 military-grade firearms (three machine guns and eight pistols), ammunition and silencers, as well as controlled drugs (heroin, cocaine, and cannabis) with an estimated street value of more than €700,000.

Two men, both aged in their 40s, were arrested and are detained at stations in the Midlands under Section 50 of Criminal Justice 2007.

• Cormac O'Keeffe, Security Correspondent