Gardaí have extradited a group of serious criminals to their native Poland after discovering they were hiding in Ireland.
The four men are wanted in Poland to service sentences of between 8 months and twenty years. Two of the men were convicted of kidnapping offences.
The men were loaded on a Polish Air Force plane in Baldonnel Aerodrome in west Dublin on Friday morning. It is understood one of more of the men had objected to flying and it was judged safer to use a military aircraft rather than a civilian flight as is standard.
Emil Pompa (35) is wanted in Poland to serve a 20-year term for kidnap and robbery while Grzegorz Grzesiak (45) is being returned to serve a nine year sentence for kidnap and fraud.
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Rafal Lukaswewski (47) is being returned to serve a four-year term for fraud while Adrian Ziulkowski (43) is wanted to serve eight months for assault.
The four men’s presence in Ireland was detected by Gardaí using the EU Schengen Information System (SIS) which allows gardaí to check suspects’ identities against a Europe-wide database of fugitives. Ireland signed up to the system in 2021.
One man was identified as a fugitive after he became involved in a road traffic crash. Another was detected after attempting to use a false document. The other two were identified following proactive searches of the database.
They were surrendered by Gardaí from the Garda Extradition Unit and the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“The operation highlighted strong international co-operation between An Garda Síochána and international partners, resulting in the removal of fugitives who posed a risk to communities in Ireland,” Detective Superintendent Michael Mullen of the Garda extradition unit said today.
“This operation also highlights the continued commitment of domestic stakeholders including the Department of Justice, The Defence Forces and the Irish Prison Service all of whom work in tandem to ensure wanted fugitives are brought to justice,” he added.
