Former Garda firearms specialist accused of theft and illegal possession of military grade material

A former Garda firearms specialist is facing trial accused of possessing nearly 4,000 rounds of ammunition and stealing military weapons parts from the Defence Forces.

Luke Rochford (35), who is no longer a member of the Garda, is accused of stealing sniper rifle parts from the Defence Forces ordnance stores in the Curragh Camp in Kildare.

Three separate weapon possession offences are alleged to have occurred in the Garda Firearms store in Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park where Mr Rochford worked while a Garda.

It is understood Mr Rochford, an gun enthusiast with an address in Killiney, South Dublin, was an ordnance specialist in the Defence Forces before leaving to join the Garda as a specialist in firearms storage.

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He was a probationer garda at the time of the alleged offences.

The alleged offences took place between 2015 and 2019. Mr Rochford was first charged in 2020 but this was not reported at the time. He is due to face trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in April 2024.

The 15 charges against Rochford include possession of 1,577 rounds of .22 Long Rifle Rounds and 985 rounds of .308 ammunition in excess of the amount permitted under his firearms licence.

He is also accused of possessing five types of restricted ammunition without a valid certificate. These include 707 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 40 rounds of .375, 500 rounds of 9mm and 50 rounds of 7.65mm. He is also alleged to have illegally possessed 83 rounds of 12 gauge “slug” ammunition for a shotgun.

These alleged offences occurred at his home and at a property in Dún Laoghaire. In total he is accused of illegal possession of 3,942 rounds.

Mr Rochford faces another two charges of possessing stolen property, namely six Steyr Aug 30-round rifle magazines and three Heckler and Koch 20-round rifle magazines. The Steyr is the standard issue Defence Forces rifle.

He is further accused of possessing a 12-gauge Remington 870 pump action shotgun and a Bremmer “AR-15 style” semi-automatic rifle at Garda Headquarters. A further charge relates to possessing a shotgun with a barrel of less than 61cms.

All of these offences relate to searches carried out on August 29th, 2019 by members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI). The prosecution is being led by gardaí from the Bridewell Garda station in Dublin

Finally, Mr Rochford is accused of stealing rifle parts from Defence Forces stores at some point in 2015. These relate to the “lower receiver” of an M16 A2 rifle and the “action” from two “Accuracy International” sniper rifles.

It is understood Mr Rochford strongly denies any illegality and intends to fight the case.

A Garda spokesman said it could not comment as the matter is before the courts.