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Updated at 3.30pm
THREE MEN HAVE been arrested after gardaí confronted a gang at the scene of a burglary in Co Cavan in the early hours of this morning.
As part of the gardaí’s Operation Thor crackdown – which targets known burglars – the three were arrested in connection with a raid at a business in Kingscourt in Cavan.
Detective gardaí responded to a call from the premises at around 1am, according to the force.
On arrival, the officers were confronted by three men who were subsequently arrested at scene.
Two of the arrested men – aged in their early 20s and 30s – were detained at Baileboro Garda Station, under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.
The third man, in his early 30s, was detained at Carrickmacross Garda Station. He was released this morning without charge, with a file to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The two men still in custody were due before a special sitting of Monaghan District Court this afternoon.
Operation Thor
Launched earlier this month, Operation Thor is a new nationwide crackdown from the gardaí, targeting 200 of Ireland’s most prolific burglars.
It will see an increase in recruitment, additions to the garda fleet, as well as investment in communications technology for gardaí and public awareness campaigns.
Uniformed patrols are also being increased in burglary hotspots, which gardaí have identified through the PULSE system.
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Now please punish accordingly or it’s just a waste of time
Bring them before a special court today and remand them in custody msybe they were looking to see if ther was a deli conter
Really, it wasn’t that difficult after-all, just a question of a political will to go chasing criminals instead of everyday motorists.
I just had to check if it was April the first! The guards answered a burglary call? Go on out of that! Our guards? A burglary call? Honestly they actually when to the scene of the crime in time to catch the filth robbing the place? No I’m not believing that for one second.
Third man was released without charge and a file blah….blah….blah……, was he there with the other two at time of burglary? Then throw the book at him and the other two. Mandatory sentencing of 10 yrs for burglars, no bail. While this guy is out waiting for the DPP to look at the file she is sent, he can commit many more crimes. Grrr
Mandatory prison sentences don’t work. One only needs to look at the mess in the U.S. to realize that.
But what our soft judges are doing now isn’t working.
Because it works in the US? The crime rate over there is far far higher than in Ireland. You want mandatory sentences? That’s fine, just be prepared for no effect whatsoever on the low crime rate (which is then exaggerated by stories like this) coupled with a huge increase in accused taking trial dates (as you have nothing then to lose by pleading not guilty). Judges give out proper sentences all the time, and refuse bail in nearly all cases where Gardai object under s2 bail act (which has always allowed bail to be refused where there is a risk an accused will commit a further offence – but don’t let the politicians tell you that because that doesn’t help their sound bites and ‘getting tough on crime’ stance) but of course it doesn’t get reported because it’s not news worthy, much better to voice outrage at a handful of cases.
Where do you propose housing the rapists and murderers? if you are sentencing burglars to a mandatory 10 years there won’t be sufficient jail space for them.
Mandatory sentencing and 50 lashes for second offence, see your crime stats after that !
Where do you propose housing the rapists and murders? If you are giving mandatory 10 year sentences to to burglars there won’t be enough jail places for more serious offenders.
Where do you propose housing the rapists and the murderers? If you are giving 10 year mandatory sentences to burglars there won’t be enough jail space for more serious offenders. There will be more criminals out on bail. There will be longer delays in securing convictions
It works a lot better then letting them go Scott free.
Personally anyone who breaks into someone’s home should be shot on the spot and the shooter rewarded for ridding the country of this filth
Why report a burglar being shot dead sure just bury it somewhere and plant a tulip on top of it and do the same for the next one and plant 2 tulips just in case you forget how many you put in the ground .
1st big result for the Government’s new Operation Thor. I hope that they can now catch the Hole in the Roof gangs and put them away.
By the gardai yes, but where is our justice reform. Is that after the next election or is that a promise for the one after that.
I hear that the “Wet Bandits” a gruesome twosome are top of the Gardai’s wanted list!
This was a Government backed decision aimed at tackling rural crime and large gangs. Which as we can see is already beginning to work. The Bail Bill, will be in this session on top of other measures such as the new DNA data system.
This governments relationship with an Gardai and justice in general leaves a bad smell after it. But, it is good to see an initiative like this in action , albeit needed sooner.
Hi Blaine, you waive your right to an opinion on the perceived successes of Merkel’s representatives in Ireland by virtue of the fact that you are a member of Fine Gael, talk about pissing on our backs and telling us it’s raining.
It says a lot about our capabilities when the arrest of 3 burglars makes the national news. Do the Gardai not arrest burglars every day, or is this something unusual or maybe it’s FG spin to show how tough they are on crime?
Hello Blaine, I’m surprised to see you still here. As you were so gungho on going off to fight Isis yesterday, I expected you to be on a military jet somewhere over Syria by now.
Devlin, your away with the faries.
@Blaine, that does’nt suit your image. Call her anne marie at least. I reckon you’d be away in Europe with the fairies if you get half a chance.
Exactly Richard
If I read the article correctly, this burglary was detected because of a phone call from the premises being burgled and not as a result of “Targetting the top 200 burglars nationwide” which is what Operation Thor is supposed to be. So though the capture will be added to the statistics for Operation Thor, it was in reality the standard work of local Gardai and not oart of the Governaments initiative.
Blaine….is your real name Frances??
The bail bill Blaine? It does nothing new that’s already on the statute books. Judges already have the power to refuse where there is evidence of a risk an accused will commit a further offence. And guess what? It’s used all the time! And the Judges tend to refuse bail unless the evidence doesn’t stack up! Of course this doesn’t suit the narrative you want to go with so just go to your tough and crime stance and ignore all other salient facts.
Half the problem is that if a judge gives them hefty sentences they’ll appeal as it would be so abnormal here. These guys are known burglars with a history caught in the act and likely a list of previous as long as your arm. Good to see them getting caught but the average sentence is only 3 years for this. That should be doubled at the very minimum.
In this session ??? Are you for real ? When they transferred loan shark’s bets on to my children’s and my grandchildren’s shoulders they were able to do it overnight. Just remember that everybody when they come looking for you and your family’s votes very shortly.
I’d love to have attended the meeting where the name “Operation Thor” was conceived
Genius name. Bringing the hammer down on criminals. Now let’s see if judges actually know how to use a hammer to.
Might have been on a Thursday the day is named after Thor
They do… “Suspended Sentence”… knock…knock.. next!
The judges don’t give a flying f#ck.
They are the ring masters of a rotten system!!
Supernintendo murphy” ngeardai, what’ll we call this iniciative?”
Garda Boisin: “operation thor”
Murphy:” thatllwhat made u think of dat, tis brillant”
Boisin:”its norse code for the god of knockin de bollix out of people”
Murphy : ” wheelwarriors, explode into action, ngeardai! Mount up!”
Ah they only bring down the hammer on water protestors, or anti-Nama demonstrations!
The judges wont bring down the hammer on them. They will give them a suspended sentence a slap on the wrist and let them off to do the same thing again
What’s it going to be? 6 months with 5 suspended? After all, I’m sure these poor guys had it tough and they were probably under the influence of alcohol…..so, not really their fault
10 to 20 years on the chain gang wearing nice pink overalls.
Great work by the Gardai but now we can expect mademoiselle Fitzgerald with her “I told you I’d make things better,didn’t I”??.. She was on radio yesterday and actually said..” People are suspicious of the 1000′s of fighters who’ve come back to Europe”…….suspicious?in the real world they get locked up for years….!
I wish there was South American model re burglars…. they usually don’t live till the first court hearing.
Is that Tom Cruise in the balaclava??
@Marion: It looks like Edna!
The legal lobby don’t want more prisons as their customers are repeat offenders. Somebody with numerous convictions can potentially make solicitors, Junior council and Senior Council a huge amount of money. They also make money from the damage caused in insurance claims. Of course the judges and their families are all involved in the business so the status quo is maintained. It’s a huge business and if offenders were imprisoned it would seriously effect their business. People’ lives are put in danger to allow criminals continue to prosper and the legal profession to thrive. The moral in the Gardai is shot to pieces with repeat offenders constantly getting off cries. Shame on our government.
*counsel
Burglars are a scourge in this country, if they aren’t given proper jail time, there is no deterrent. This ridiculous system of suspending sentences makes a mockery of Garda time and resources. Repeat offenders should be jailed for at least ten years.
Jail is too good for them, the sewage system is not?
Fookin deadly.
Are we really falling for this spin from the government? Is it not obvious to everyone that these arrests have nothing whatsoever to do with Operation Thor – but the spin now is that anything at all positive from the Gardai is as a result of this ” new initiative” from Noirin & Frances? There is no fresh investment in the Gardai – just repeated “announcements” of recruiting and “new high powered” cars – just the replacement of clapped out cars that have reached 300,000 kms! Does anyone even know how much it costs to keep these cars on the road to 300,000 kms? About twice as much as replacing it at 150,000 kms, thats how much. Operation Thor? Are we that gullible?
No..we’re not.
Well done lads and lassies
How can we put this…..I wonder……what background these criminals have?? Are they from a wandering background? Moving from place to place?
You mean circus folk?fairgrounds?that type of amusement? Hardly.
You mean do they ” travel” a bit ?
Something along those lines Donal…..are they fond of moving about…….that kind of thing.
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