This article is from page 10 of the 2008-12-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
GARDAI in Ennis are believed to have intercepted a Dublin gang plan- ning to commit a serious crime in the heart of the town.
As part of a major operation, armed gardai swooped and arrested five members of a suspected criminal gang on Parnell Street in Ennis on Friday morning.
Pedestrians looked on in aston- ishment as the five were taken into custody, while a car and van were taken by gardai for technical exami- nations.
The five men were taken for ques- tioning at Ennis and Shannon Garda stations, where they were held throughout the day. All five were released without charge on Saturday and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecution’s of- fice, where a decision will be taken on whether to charge them.
According to sources, the move- ments of the gang had been under surveillance for a number of weeks and this led to Friday’s major op- eration. They are understood to have been monitoring their business target in Ennis for some weeks.
There was the most significant Garda operation mounted in the county capital for a considerable pe- riod of time.
The other, separate, most prolific Garda operation in the town this winter was last month’s success- ful recovery of a haul of more than
€100,000 worth of jewellery which had been stolen from people’s homes across the town.
The jewellery was stolen during 55 burglaries over a six-week period and was recovered in a garage in the town five weeks ago.
This was on foot of the establish- ment of Operation Ennis, which was set up after dozens of home own- ers reported that their premises had been broken into during the daytime. Jewellery and cash were taken by the intruders as burglaries hit an all-time high in the town.
A major surveillance operation was set up and this led to the arrest of an individual. One man has been charged in connection with the in- vestigation — he is facing four charg- es — and the probe is continuing.
Some of the victims were delighted to have their valuable items of jewel- lery returned to them by gardai in- volved in the extensive investigation.