Five people arrested in connection with fraud and impersonating Gardaí

Gardaí from the Garda Eastern Region investigating the activities of a criminal gang involved in theft and fraud by impersonating members of An Garda Síochána arrested five people this morning.

In a statement, a Garda spokesperson said: “The five persons have been arrested on suspicion of offences contrary to Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 as amended and detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 at 5 separate Garda stations across the Eastern Region.

“A number of searches are ongoing in three counties across the Dublin and Eastern Regions.

“The investigation is led by a Senior Investigating Officer, based out of an incident room at Kilkenny Regional Headquarters and has been investigating the gangs activities across 15 counties, primarily in the east and the midlands, over the past 10 months.

“Today’s searches and arrests are being conducted by detectives from the Eastern Region, supported by uniform colleagues and Regional Armed Support Units.

“The theft/ fraud involved members of the gang calling to rural homes, impersonating a member of An Garda Síochána, claiming they were investigating burglaries in the area where sums of cash had been stolen and that they were attempting to identify the owners of the cash, or counterfeit cash.

“The requested to compare cash in their possession against cash held by the home owner and then proceed to take any cash from the home owner.”

An Garda Síochána has previously issued crime prevention advice in relation to this type of bogus tradesmen callers.

Members of An Garda Síochána will not cold call to a house and request to check cash in this manner.

An Garda Síochána wish to remind the public that any Garda member calling to your door will have identification.

However, should you have any concerns about the person at the door, you should not answer the door even if they are purporting to be a Garda.