This article is from page 1 of the 2011-10-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
A DANGEROUS and organised armed criminal gang has been targeting homes in Ennis and East Clare over the past two weeks, resulting in a large increase in the number of recent house break-ins in the county.
The gang, which were described as being not afraid to ‘take on a group of gardaí’, is operating in a co-ordinated fashion across three jurisdictions and are the subject of a major garda investigation.
Speaking at a public meeting of the Joint Policing Committee in Sixmilebridge last night, Clare Garda Chief Superintendent John Kerin said that the gardaí are monitoring the group and soon hope to be able to make a major breakthrough in their investigations.
“We have had an upsurge in burglaries in Ennis and East Clare in the last two weeks and 90 per cent of these burglaries are being undertaken by one criminal gang.
“We know who they are, we know the cars that they are using and there is an extensive investigation taking place across three jurisdictions in relation to this group,” said Chief Supt Kerin.
“They are very serious criminals. They are an organised group of serious criminals and they wont be afraid to take on a group of guards.”
It was also confirmed at last night’s meeting that gardaí in Clare have been in contact with the Armed Response Unit in relation to policing the gang.
Meanwhile, Gardaí have promised that there won’t be a repeat of last Halloween when residents were “trapped in the homes” in parts of Sixmilebridge.
The town was the sight of serious anti-social behaviour last year when a campaign to “Come to Sixmilebridge for a Riot” was started on Facebook.
Supt Kerin committed to increasing garda activity in the town over the Halloween period and to investigating any illegal activity in the Cappa Lodge area.