The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has moved against a Midwest drug dealer and secured an order against a €250,000 property near Bodyke purchased by the man.
The case is one of a number of case studies highlighted in the just released CAB annual report for 2016.
Outlining the details in the report, it states that it targeted an individual involved in drug dealing in the Mid-West.
As a result of the work of a trained Divisional Asset Profiler, it was ascertained that the target had purchased a rural residential property with stables and 18.3 acres of land attached valued at €250,000 near the east Clare village of Bodyke.
The bureau obtained orders in relation to the assets at Boydke and the report states that “these matters are currently ongoing and the Bureau is actively engaged in the recovery of outstanding sums owed to the Exchequer”.
Elsewhere, CAB last year seized jewellery worth €34,450 from suspected criminals and their associates.
The €34,450 in jewellery seized included two Rolex watches valued at €9,000 from a couple on the dole where the man is suspected of drug dealing in Dublin’s south inner city.
According to CAB’s 2016 annual report, the bureau seized assets totalling €1.9m that included jewellery, top of the range cars worth €51,747, property worth €230,000 and €1.6m in cash from suspected criminals.
The bureau targeted the Kinahan cartel during the year and seized €500,000 worth of goods and that case is currently before the courts where six of the 11 individuals targeted were last week refused legal aid.
In his report, CAB chief, Detective Chief Supt Patrick Clavin states that the Bureau played its part during the year “in responding to the threat posed to Irish society by a major criminal feud between the Kinahan and Hutch organised crime gangs”.
In one case study outlined in the annual report, bureau officers swooped on an unnamed target involved in drug dealing in Dublin’s south inner city.
In the operation, CAB retrieved €37,000 in cash along with two Rolex watches valued at €9,000 in total, an Audi A4 worth €10,000 and and an Audi A3 worth €8,500.
The annual report states that the target of this operation and his partner were not working and collecting dole payments from the State,
The bureau report states that in relation to the target, taxes were demanded and overpayments raised in respect of Social Protection matters and these matters are currently ongoing.
CAB also targeted a person engaged in drug dealing in Dublin’s North West and seized cash totalling €74,500 and an Audi A7 worth €35,000.
Again, the target in this operation was not working and was in receipt of State dole payments.
CAB has made a tax demand on the target and “as a result of the target utilising close family members in the purchase of particular assets, overpayments in respect of Social Protection payments were raised against two additional family members”.
CAB state that the matter is ongoing. The bureau was also active outside Dublin last year and targeted an individual involved in drug dealing in the Mid-West.
Last year, CAB seized five BMW cars, one Audi A7, one Audit A4, an Audi A3 and two Volkswagen Golfs
The report states that the bureau “continues to note the interest of those involved in serious organised crime in high value vehicles. However, during 2016 the Bureau targeted a number of mid-range to upper- range valued vehicles. This is, in part, a response to actions being taken by those involved in crime to purchase lower valued vehicles in an attempt to avoid detection”.
On actions taken against those suspected criminals enjoying social welfare payments, the report states: “As a direct result of investigations conducted by Social Welfare Bureau Officers in 2016, a number of persons had their payments either terminated or reduced. These actions resulted in a total saving to the Exchequer of €269,981.”
In one case study of a well known family engaged in drug dealing in the South, Cork Gardai launched a drug trafficking and money laundering investigation and following the investigation, 11 members of this family had their Social Welfare claims reviewed, resulting in decisions to terminate payments and assess overpayments.
In another case, an organised crime family was dealt with in the South Eastern Region.
The report states: “This investigation related to five individuals. Savings as a result of the closing of existing Social Welfare claims amounted to €54,000.
Overpayments in relation to this family amounted to in excess of €350,000 of which monies are being recovered at present.”
The cost of operating CAB last year totalled €7m compared to €6.6m in 2015.
