Gardai believe they have uncovered a significant cross-Border criminal operation after recovering stolen vehicles and property worth almost £250,000.
A search of a farmyard at Glenmore, near the village of Collon, Co Louth, uncovered a red Peugeot 405 car, an 18 ft Bayliner speedboat on a trailer, a Swift Challenger caravan and a Ford lorry and trailer. They were all stolen within the last two to three months.
The speedboat was stolen from Poulaphouca, Co Kildare, on September 30th last, while it is thought the caravan and car came from either Northern Ireland or Britain.
The goods had been concealed in sheds and other cars and parts of cars were found nearby, suggesting that the changing of identification marks on stolen vehicles had been going on for some time.
Garda sources believe that the criminals are based in the Newry/Armagh area but that local involvement from the Dundalk area would also have been necessary. "The people behind this were possibly changing chassis numbers here and then moving the items onto somewhere else. It was not a simple operation and we think this was just a temporary storing place," one garda said.
The Garda investigation began in October and was based on information gathered. The Garda does not believe there was a subversive connection. The vehicles were taken to Dundalk Garda station where they will be examined in an effort to check the chassis numbers and find the owners.