Dublin criminal gang members living in Longford committing burglaries in Leitrim

Criminals from Dublin who are living in Longford and Roscommon are committing crime in rural counties like Leitrim, it was revealed at a Joint Policing Committee by Inspector Mick Collins who gave a report on crime figures in the county.

Cllr Paddy Farrell noted at the meeting there were many break ins and thefts “especially in the last two months in Carrick and Kilclare and Kilnagross and Gorvagh. I'm wondering if there is any success in bringing these individuals to justice?”

Inspector Collins said in his report that there has been a year on year increase in burglaries, “probably coming from a lower rate in 2022 coming out from Covid.

He said that in 2023, “various groups have been coming down resulting in an increase in burglaries.”

Theft from MPV figures went from 13 in 2022 to 21 in 2023, the report revealed.

“We've had vehicles broken into for tools and five or six in Manorhamilton. One particular young man is being dealt with before courts in relation to that small crime spree in July,” he said.

He continued that in December, searches were carried out in relation to tool theft in Dublin and “we are going through what we have found and phones, etc. to try and connect these people to some of the crimes.”

He noted that there were about twenty burglaries in total in Leitrim.

“They would be our suspects in coming down and doing that,” he said, noting the investigations were ongoing.

Inspector Collins continued that Gardaí are “targeting certain people and we are hoping for some success in relation to those.”

He said that in other cases, burglars are “very forensically aware” and are spraying down surfaces and wearing gloves leading to a lack of fingerprints.

He urged people to keep reporting incidents through the Leitrim Alerts stressing, “don't think of anything as insignificant” and said that a number of open meetings have taken place over the last ten days to “get people to ring into us” for anything suspicious.

He said that “we may not get particular groups for crimes done down here but when we affect them, we might actually get information on other crimes they may be just after doing.”

He gave the example of €40,000 worth of tools being uncovered just outside of Leitrim stating that “we didn't get the tools we were looking for but did get €40,000 worth of tools stolen elsewhere so it can often work out like that.”

Cllr Sean McGowan noted there had been break-ins in the Dromod and Annaduff areas and asked if the perpetrators were “getting information from local sources.”

Inspector Collins said the majority of perpetrators come from outside but there “are people locally who are involved in crime and could be doing some of them.”

He said that individuals involved in Dublin gangs are “living in Roscommon and Longford” and “we are conscious some of them are quite close to home.”

He added in Manorhamilton, there were around nine burglaries of which three were carried out by locals.

Cllr Padraig Fallon asked if the drugs unit in Sligo-Leitrim is “adequately resourced” with Insp Collins responding that while “we'd always like to have more Guards,” they did have back-up from other units and “if there are concerns in doing a search at a particular location,” the armed support unit can be called in.

In his report, Inspector Collins also noted that incidents of assault causing bodily harm are down 30 per cent and public order offences are down “quite a substantial amount - 135 to 78.”

He said that the cameras in Carrick-on-Shannon are of “huge assistance from the viewpoint of our guys in the station seeing things happening” and “being able to divert units towards that so it doesn't actually escalate.”

Cllr Armstrong-McGuire welcomed this statement and said the message that CCTV works in reducing crime needs to be put out there.

Inspector Collins said that Manorhamilton has also been avoided by “people who won't go into the town because of the automatic number plate recognition technology in use” and “it definitely has an effect in getting people to avoid certain areas.”

He noted that individuals in a stolen car came from Laois and broke into cars but the cars had been left unlocked.

“A car stolen in Carrick-on-Shannon, which the keys had been in, was recovered in Dublin and two suspects were arrested and charged in relation to that offence,” he said.

In relation to thefts from shops, Inspector Collins revealed a juvenile was arrested and €7,000 worth of property that was stolen from shops in December was recovered.