A 36-year-old man is due to appear in court after he was arrested following reports of a man throwing more than €20,000 in cash at Galway motorists.
The man was arrested on Saturday by gardaí after they were called to the Skerrit Roundabout on the Old Dublin Road in Galway city. The report had been made by two off-duty gardaí who witnessed the man’s alleged behaviour while walking in the area.
Gardaí arrested the man, who was under the influence of intoxicants at the time, for public order offences, and when he was searched, they found he had €10,000 worth of cocaine.
They also recovered more than €20,000 in cash from motorists who handed back the money.
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Gardaí believe the money was the proceeds of a theft in Listowel, Co Kerry, where a businessman had €120,000 stolen as he was preparing to make a cash lodgement to a bank in the town.
The businessman was about to make the lodgement at 7.30am on Thursday when his a laptop bag, containing a laptop and the cash, was snatched from his car at Clieveragh in the town.
Gardaí in Listowel launched an immediate investigation and, after harvesting CCTV from various locations around the town, were able to identify a suspect and another person of interest.
They also found the laptop and €2,000 dumped in a ditch. Both were sent to Garda technical experts for an examination for fingerprints and DNA.
The man arrested in Galway was taken to a local Garda station for questioning. He was charged both with drug and theft offences and is to appear in court in Galway.
