THE CRIMINAL Assets Bureau (Cab) is planning a major drive against mid-ranking criminals following a four-fold increase in the number of assets profilers it employs nationwide.
It has now emerged that the bureau has more than 110 profilers studying the assets of criminals around the country.
The profilers are supplying information to the bureau’s head office in Dublin with a view to beginning High Court assets confiscations proceedings.
At the end of last year the Cab employed 27 profilers. Since then almost 80 extra gardaí and 13 Revenue officials have been trained as profilers, bringing the current complement to 115.
The Garda profilers work as detectives in Garda divisions around the country. They have undergone training over the past year at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary.
They have studied techniques in identifying known criminals who have begun accruing cash and other assets as a result of their criminal activities.
The profilers liaise with other gardaí in their division and, using local Garda intelligence, build an assets profile of target criminals. These profiles are then submitted to the Cab’s head office at Harcourt Square, Dublin, with a recommendation that assets confiscation cases commence.
Garda sources said the decision to train so many profilers comes as a result of the bureau’s renewed efforts to target criminals involved at all levels of organised crime. The bureau is trying to move away from prioritising criminals whose portfolios of property, vehicles and other assets is so large they are obvious targets.
“It is about hitting these guys when they are just getting established, before they get too big,” said a source.
“And it’s also about showing local communities that gardaí are not going to tolerate young criminals with no visible means buying things like sports cars.”
The system of training assets profilers for deployment around the country has been greatly expanded since Det Chief Supt John O’Mahoney became the head of the Cab just over two years ago.
Of the 102 Garda assets profilers now trained, 26 are stationed in the various Garda divisions in Dublin.
There are also 21 profilers in the Northern region, 14 in the southern region and 14 in the eastern region, which excludes Dublin. A further 11 profilers are based in the western region with 15 in the southeast.
One assets profiler is currently attached to the national support services (NSS), which is effectively the umbrella under which specialist Garda units operate. These include the Garda National Drug Unit, Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and the Organised Crime Unit.
The profiler attached to NSS acts as a liaison officer between the bureau and the other units to ensure the intelligence gathered by the specialist units can be used to the maximum by bureau to build assets confiscation cases.
The 13 profilers attached to Revenue similarly share information with the bureau arising from Revenue cases. They also advise on the preparation of cases where a criminal’s earnings are estimated over a period and a tax demand is served in respect of those earnings.
The most successful operation to date in which regional assets profilers have played a major part has been Operation Platinum in Limerick city.
In March the bureau seized two bullet-proof vehicles, a BMW X5 4X4 and a BMW 3 Series car, that were registered to brothers Ger and Wayne Dundon, both members of a feuding gang. The vehicles are worth about €150,000 and have bullet-proof glass and reinforced armoured doors.
Also under Operation Platinum the bureau seized a Mitsubishi Shogun 4X4 worth €50,000 in January.
In February the Cab sold a Toyota Landcruiser and a Toyota Avensis worth an estimated €60,000 and €90,000 respectively from members of Limerick’s Keane-Collopy gang.