The chair of a soccer club searched as part of a what is believed to be a probe into alleged “match fixing”, said gardai swooped in with “machine guns”.
Anthony Kelly said when he arrived at Hogan Park, the home ground of Hill Celtic in Rathbane, Limerick, he was met by a “blockade” of armed officers.
Detectives attached to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau conducted a search at a sports club on Tuesday evening “in relation to an investigation into match fixing”.
A Garda spokeswoman said: “Investigations are ongoing.”
It’s understood documentation and mobile phones were seized from individuals during the search.
On Tuesday night gardai tweeted information about a search of “a sports-ground in Limerick in relation to match fixing” above a photograph of two unidentified gardai at a sports ground.
Speaking yesterday, self-confessed reformed criminal Mr Kelly said: “I don’t know what it’s about or anything to do with it. It is nothing to do with Hill Celtic.”
“Rumours around town were saying it had something to do with Hill Celtic, but it’s nothing to do with Hill Celtic.”
Mr Kelly said when he called to the club yesterday evening, he observed Gardaí armed “with machine guns” positioned at the entrance gates.
“I called to the gates here and there was a lot of gardai here. I asked for them to show me a warrant. They wouldn’t show me the warrant and then I asked for who was the member in charge and they wouldn’t disclose that to me,” Mr Kelly claimed.
“I’m the chairman of Hill Celtic and I’m responsible for the ground here. They wouldn’t let me in.”
Mr Kelly said he was “shocked” when he saw armed officers at the club and he complained the operation was over the top.
“What was the purpose of armed guards? It was very heavy handed, I thought.”
“I’m only in the process of trying finding out what they took and what happened. I sent a solicitor’s letter to them. I want to see a copy of the warrant, and under whose authority they entered, because this is private property.”
“There’s a sign there, which says, ‘Welcome to Hogan Park. Private Property. No unauthorised entry.’”
The search took place shortly after 5pm on Tuesday, he said.
“They were there for a couple of hours. Hill Celtic was to be training at 7pm and they didn’t train over it.”
“They had a blockade and it prevented people from going in.”
“Hogan Park is owned by a private trust and I’m responsible for it for the last 20-25 years. I stated that to the guards.”
When asked if armed gardai attended Hogan Park yesterday as part of an investigation into alleged match-fixing, a garda spokesman replied: “Gardai can confirm a search took place yesterday evening, Tuesday 3 September, 2019 in Limerick at a sports ground.
"An ongoing investigation is taking place and members from a nationals unit and local members conducted the search.”
When asked to respond to Mr Kelly’s claims he was not shown a search warrant and not told the identify of the garda in charge of the search was, the garda spokesman replied: “There is no further information available at this time.”
