This article is from page 4 of the 2013-12-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
GARDAÍ are urging anyone affected by illegal money lending in the town of Kilrush to come forward and speak to them.
The appeal comes following a dawn raid on businesses and homes in the Kilrush area by gardaí investigating illegal money lending, on Tuesday last.
A total of 11 people were arrested following the searches, which commenced at 7am.
They were later released without charge and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The planned search followed months of investigations involving local gardaí assisted by Criminal Assets Bureau, Regional Support Unit, and Special Detective Units from Galway, the National Criminal Intelligence Unit as well as officials from Revenue, Social Welfare and Clare County Council.
The arrests included five males aged between 18 and 55 years, and six females aged between 20 and 49 years.
All those arrested were detained at various Garda Stations in County Clare, Limerick and Galway under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
The investigation, which has been ongoing for several months, centres around complaints received from various individuals and is focused on those suspected of being engaged in unlicensed money lending. _
There had been a number of reports to gardaí of intimidation relating to the illegal money lending during the last year, but those making the complaints were often too frightened to make statements.
Kilrush Gardaí along with CAB and other local bodies began to carry out further investigations leading to last week’s searches and arrests.
This is the second major investigation requiring extensive Garda resources, to be carried out in the town in the last number of months.
Gardaí in Kilrush, in conjunction with the National Drugs Unit have been tackling the supply of illegal drugs issue with a special five-month undercover operation spanning the end of last year and the first quarter of this year.
A total of 1,400 Garda man-hours were used in Operation Luxor, which resulted in at least eight arrests that have come before the courts so far.