A man (29) has today been charged in connection with an investigation into organised crime.
The man is one of nine men who was arrested by gardaí yesterday as part of a major inquiry into drug and gun crime in the west of Ireland.
The man charged tonight is currently appearing before a special sitting of Galway District Court.
A tenth person was arrested this evening in relation to the same investigation. He is currently being held in Tuam Garda station under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Three of the individuals arrested yesterday were released without charge today.
All of the suspects arrested last night were questioned under anti-gangland laws introduced last year.
The men are believed to be members of the Traveller community and are part of a wider Galway-based crime syndicate that gardaí believe is led by two brothers.
The investigation into the gang’s activities has been going on for six months, but the men’s arrests were hastened by the arrest of a man in Belfast at the weekend for drug smuggling offences. That man is a suspected member of the Galway-based gang. He was detained by the PSNI at the weekend in Belfast after he was found to be in possession of cocaine with a value of €60,000 having disembarked a flight from Spain.
The arrests of the nine other gang members in Galway yesterday occurred during a series of co-ordinated searches of 21 addresses that began at 7am. The operation, led by Asst Commissioner John O’Mahony, involved gardaí from across Galway and members of the Organised Crime Unit, Criminal Assets Bureau and the Armed Regional Support Unit.
Some of the premises raided are located in Bohermore in the city centre and in Rahoon and Ballybane.
Gardaí believe the gang has generated significant wealth from their criminal activities which is believed to have been laundered and invested in property.
A number of solicitors’ and accountants’ offices were raided as part of the co-ordinated searches. Computers and documentation was seized and these items will now be analysed by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
A number of mobile phones and at least four cars were seized during the operation, codenamed Operation Foolscap. It is one of the largest investigations in recent years targeting organised crime outside Dublin or Limerick.
The suspects were arrested for alleged offences under the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009. The legislation was introduced last July and provides for the new offences of directing or participating in an organised crime gang.