The dark web is making it easier for people to import guns and weapons into the State and the trend is presenting a new challenge for the authorities, the Garda Commissioner has said.
Those seeking to import illegal weapons would have had to develop “a lot of connections” in order to get guns into the country in the past, Justin Kelly said, but the availability of firearms on the dark web is forcing An Garda Síochána to adjust its approach.
Kelly was speaking at the announcement of a recruitment drive for the Garda, which is aiming to grow to 15,000 members by the end of the year, from a current force of more than 14,600.
Asked about the investigation into a case in which three men were charged with possession of firearms after a sting in Co Kildare, Kelly said he was “very satisfied” with the investigation, noting it was carried out “properly and the way it should be”.
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Undercover gardaí supplied guns and ammunition to then 21-year-old Evan Fitzgerald – who was subsequently charged with possession of the firearms. Two other young men were recently given suspended sentences after they were found to be possession of firearms, in the same vehicle as Fitzgerald, who had purchased the guns through the dark web.
While awaiting trial on the firearms charges, Fitzgerald, of Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, stole another weapon from a neighbour and fired shots in a Carlow shopping centre before turning that gun on himself.
While Kelly said the case was “challenging” for the force, it feeds into a wider trend for gardaí, he added, with the dark web reducing barriers to importing weapons.
The commissioner said the capacity for would-be criminals to acquire illegal weapons or firearms online has been “one of the big challenges in recent years”.
“Only this year, we had a significant conviction in relation to an individual who was importing high-powered weapons into the country,” Kelly said, noting the person was assembling AR-15-style weapons from parts.
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“These are challenges we didn’t have before. Previously, you would have had to have a lot of connections to get firearms, now you can go on to the dark web and do it,” he said. “We certainly have to change and pivot to deal with cases like that.”
Kelly said the people caught importing weapons in this way are typically not known to the Garda, which is a “challenge” for the force. He said there are “a whole manner of ways” in which those attempting to import weapons are attempting to obscure their identities and to “remain anonymous”.
He said gardaí had to “defeat” these methods in order to make arrests, noting that “everything now has a very technical component to it”.
He said the force is facing challenges in relation to the threat of illegal weapons smuggling, but has “had some really good successes” in combating this kind of criminal behaviour.
