More than €24m seized since establishment of Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau in 2015

The seizure of €488,000 following an operation at the Port Tunnel Plaza in recent days brings the total of cash seized by personnel from Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) to in excess of €24 million since the establishment of the Bureau in 2015.

A further in excess of €11 million has been forfeited to the State following the conclusion of relevant Court proceedings initiated by GNDOCB in this time.

During 2021 the GNDOCB seized a total of €5,639,310 and £38,571 (UK), bringing the total amount of cash seized by the GNDOCB, since it was established on 9th March 2015 to the end of 2021, to €24,300,241, along with £264,326 (UK) and $3,721 (US), representing an exceptional level of success.

During 2021, a total of €8,230,886, £142,520 (UK) and $23 (US), was forfeited to the State following the conclusion of relevant Court proceedings initiated by the GNDOCB, bringing the total of monies seized by the GNDOCB and subsequently forfeited to the State, since it was established on 9th March 2015, to €11,186,954.48.

In 2021, sixteen (16) people were convicted in the higher courts, in respect of alleged breaches of the provisions of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act, 2010, as amended, arising from investigations undertaken by the GNDOCB, associated with cash they have seized.

Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll (Organised and Serious Crime) who is assigned a lead role within An Garda Síochána, with regard to tackling organised crime, said:

“Asset-focussed interventions against targeted organised crime groups, is prioritised in the strategies adopted within Organised & Serious Crime and by the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), in particular, for the purpose of seeking to deplete organised criminal finance and with an objective of dismantling the organised groups involved.

“In this regard, significant success has been achieved in recent times, in the course of operations and investigations undertaken by the GNDOCB.

“The targeting of relevant assets, in the first instance, followed by the locating and seizing of  those assets and, later, by the charging and prosecuting of suspects, through use of money laundering and organised crime related legislative provisions, has been a key component of the organised crime related strategy adopted by An Garda Síochána and the GNDOCB, in particular”.