The Garda Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) recouped over €1 million for the exchequer in recent days from the sale of properties linked to criminals in Limerick, Dublin and Waterford.
“The taking of these properties sends a very visible message to the communities in which these people reside and who have been benefiting from the proceeds of crime,” said head of Cab, Det Chief Supt Michael Gubbins.
On Thursday, Cab sold two properties in Limerick, for a combined €341,000. They were linked to Limerick gangster, Kieran Keane jnr, and were deemed were the proceeds of crime by the High Court.
Keane jnr is a son of murdered organised crime group boss, Kieran Keane snr, who was tortured and shot dead in a gangland hit in Limerick, in 2003.
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Keane jnr is understood to be living between Spain and Limerick, and has been a “driving force” in organised crime, gardaí told the High Court.
Gardaí told the High Court that Kieran Keane jnr is involved in organised crime and has invested large sums of cash in luxury goods, cars and property.
Despite Keane jnr having little or no recognisable source of legitimate income, he had ties to at least three homes, and cars and he had also travelled to Spain, Dubai, the UK, and Lapland, gardaí told the High Court.
The two properties linked to Keane jnr were sold in an online auction held by BRG Gibson Auctions on Thursday.
Seven Sarsfield Court, Garryowen, a mid-terrace three-bedroom house, was sold for €173,000, €73,000 over the appraised market value, after six bidders vied for the house.
Twelve The Path, Garryowen, and end-of-terrace, three-bedroom house, sold for €168,000, €48,000 above the appraised market value, with two bidders involved.
Separately, on Wednesday, Cab sold a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house at Ratoath Road, Dublin 7, from Cabra-based drug dealer David Waldron, for €490,000, €145,000 above its advised minimum value.
Waldron, (49), who also had a €1.6 million mansion seized by Cab, could not explain where he had got the money to buy his properties.
High Court Judge Alexander Owens found Waldron’s property was the proceeds of crime, who he also found was a “major player in the illegal distribution and sale of drugs”.
Cab also sold a crime proceeds property on Wednesday from Tipperary man, John O’Connor jnr, (44), of Carrick-on-Suir, who was convicted of involvement in a €4.7 million tax fraud and money laundering in Stockholm, Sweden.
The four-storey, end of terrace building at O’Connell Street, Waterford, was sold at auction for €255,000.
