Criminal spent €400,000 renovating house since seized by Criminal Assets Bureau

A Dublin-based criminal spent more than €400,000 renovating a house he owned in Cabra, north Dublin, which has since been seized by the Garda Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab), along with several expensive Rolex watches.

In a statement, the Garda said Christopher Waldron, of Killala Road, Cabra, Dublin 7, had bought the assets through the sale of drugs in Cabra and Finglas.

An application was previously made to the High Court to seize assets held by Waldron, including a Rolex watch worth more than €30,000, under the Proceeds of Crime Acts. The Garda said Cab had provided the court with evidence that Waldron had bought the assets “through the sale and supply of controlled drugs in the Cabra and Finglas areas of Dublin”.

These assets included a house Waldron bought in early 2013 on Killala Road, which had been extended and renovated at a cost of an estimated €431,000. An entry on the property price register shows the home had been bought in 2013 for €50,000. “The funds used to build the extension and renovate the property are determined to have derived from the criminal conduct of Christopher Waldron,” said the Garda.

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Other assets seized by Cab included seven watches, which were sold at auction in December 2023 for €72,900. Among these were two gold Rolex watches which sold for €30,100 and €14,900 and a “ladies” Rolex, which sold for €10,900. Several thousand euros in cash was also seized by gardaí during its investigation into Waldron.

Court orders had been made in March 2023 on foot of the High Court proceedings brought against Waldron. A stay on the court order seizing the house on Killala Road had been lifted on Thursday, allowing a receiver to take possession of the property to sell it, a Garda statement noted.

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