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Four men were arrested in Lucan Co Dublin, on 8 November, after they were intercepted by national and regional garda units following a report of a burglary in Mullingar Co Westmeath.
The four men, one in his 60s, one in his 20s and two in their 30s, all from Dublin, have been taken to Mullingar Garda Station where they are detained under Section 4 of The Criminal Justice Act, 1984.
They can be detained for 24 hours.
Arrested as part of Operation Thor, the organised crime group is suspected to have left Dublin on 8 November in a stolen high-powered vehicle and travelled to the midlands region where they committed burglaries, before being apprehended in the Lucan area of Dublin.
The four arrested had in their possession jewellery believed to be the proceeds of burglaries, along with what are believed to be house-breaking implements, according to the gardaí.
They are detained on suspicion of having committed burglaries.
Operation Thor
Last week, an operational order was issued to An Garda Síochána personnel throughout the country notifying them of the launch of a winter phase of Operation Thor and directing a range of operational activity be undertaken for the purpose of preventing a predictable upsurge in burglaries which occurs during the winter months.
Assistant commissioner John O’Driscoll, who is the officer in charge of special crime operations and is assigned overall responsibility for coordinating Operation Thor-related activity on a national basis, convened a meeting of senior officers and other relevant stake holders, last Thursday.
At Thursday’s meeting, a statement from the gardaí said that assistant commissioner O’Driscoll requested that detective superintendents who operate in An Garda Síochána regions throughout the country, gather intelligence regarding organised crime gangs who are travelling around the country, committing burglaries and using the motorway network to ensure speedy escape from crime scenes and to nominate suspects for targeting.
Other targets
The regional detective superintendents will be meeting on a regular basis throughout the winter phase of Operation Thor for the purpose of identifying other targets who will be targeted with a view to preventing them from committing burglaries or apprehending them where the burglaries have occurred.
The resources of national units within special crime operations (SCO) were made available to the regional detective superintendents on 8 November and will be utilised throughout the winter phase of Operation Thor.
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