Gardai have seized assets and cash worth more than €700,000 off a gang that is making a fortune from scamming pensioners and other vulnerable people.
The Irish Mirror has established that the target of Tuesday's Criminal Assets Bureau operation in Co Kildare is a gang that specialises in carrying out shoddy work to houses and then overcharging for it.
The gang is also suspected of stealing cash from pensioners who let them into their houses to do guttering work or lay unneeded tarmac.
And it’s also understood that the gang in question is also suspected of carrying out a series of burglaries in the Leinster area.
The Criminal Assets Bureau has been investigating the gang and has already frozen bank accounts linked to it containing almost €500,000.
CAB made another move against the scam gang suspects on Tuesday.
CAB officers and some 150 gardai — including the Emergency Response Unit and several other units of the force — were involved in the search of eight houses and two professional addresses in the Kildare area yesterday
Gardai said CAB officers seized six cars and vans worth around €150,000 as well as €51,000 in cash.
The officers also seized Rolex watches, a Canada Goose jacket and two luxury Chanel bags.
The gang is believed to be active in the Tallaght area of south Co Dublin and detectives from that station were also involved in the operation yesterday.
They arrested two men, aged 19 and 40, on suspicion of deception and they were being held at Tallaght Garda Station last night.
A Garda spokesman said last night: “The search today was conducted as part of an ongoing investigation and to date the investigation has identified and restrained 17 bank accounts containing cumulative funds of €495,000.
“This operation is a significant development in the ongoing criminal and proceeds of crime investigations being conducted by the Criminal Assets Bureau and Tallaght District Detective Unit.”
