Breakthrough in crackdown on ‘Cat burglars’ targeting Kilkenny

The crackdown on ‘cat-burglars’ who have been stealing components from cars in Kilkenny and neighbouring counties continues apace.

The gardai have made a third significant bust in just over two weeks on gangs travelling the country stealing catalytic converters from cars.

Yesterday, Gardai with the  Dublin Metropolitan Region Divisional Crime Task Force stopped a vehicle on the N7 in Dublin. During the course of the search, 23 catalytic converters valued at €23,000 were seized.

A further search was carried out a storage facility in the Dublin 11 where 135 catalytic converters, valued at €108,000 were also recovered.

A male in his 30s was arrested as a result and detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at Ballymun Garda station.

This successful arrest was a result of a follow-up to an operation in Dublin Port in April 14, where close to €500,000 worth of catalytic convertors were seized.

In another operation around the same time, a business premises in St Margarets on the Northside of Dublin City was raided and 300 catalytic converters with an estimated value of €150,000 were seized.

Last Thursday, Gardaí seized 2,150 catalytic converters with an estimated value of €1.2 million from a premises near Finglas in Dublin.

Gardaí also seized 14 drums of smelted catalytic converters, each drum contained approximately 300 catalytic converters in powder form. The value of the smelted catalytic converters is estimated at €1 million.

Cash to the value of €74,240 was also seized during the course of the search.

A man in his 20s was arrested in relation to this find.