30 arrested in major Garda crackdown on criminals in South Kilkenny
THIRTY people have been arrested for a wide range of criminal activities as part of a major Garda operation involving up to 60 gardai in the Thomastown area today.
The arrests are part of the latest Garda Operation Storm – the 30th such crackdown in the Carlow-Kilkenny Garda division over the past four years.
Nineteen people were arrested for wide variety of offences including drugs, assault, burglary, theft, criminal damage and sexual assault.
A further 11 people were arrested on outstanding warrants.
Ten of those arrested were charged. Files have been being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to determine if charges will be brought against five others. One under-age youth was dealt with by way of juvenile referral. Meanwhile, investigations into three others who remain in custody are continuing.
The planned operation targeting criminal activity in the Thomastown district involved a total of 60 uniformed and plain-clothes gardai.
Customs and Excise officials joined gardai at checkpoints set up around the area as the Garda Air Support provided back-up from above.
As with other Operation Storm campaigns, the criminal crackdown was accompanied by several community events.
Crime prevention stalls were set up at the Applegreen motorway services off the M9 in Paulstown and at the SuperValu and Fairfield stores in Graignamanagh.
Members of the Garda Mounted Unit visited national schools in Windgap and Newmarket, while crime prevention leaflets were handed out to parents dropping their children to schools in Goresbridge and Gowran.
Chief Superintendent Dominic Hayes, Thomastown Superintendent Ger Egan and Crime Prevention Officer Sgt Peter McConnon also took part in a talk with elderly members of the community at Dalton House in Gowran.
Local Garda sources told KilkennyNow.ie they considered today’s operation to be “a huge success”, both in terms of the number of arrests and in “disrupting the movement of criminals trying to ply their trade in the area”.
The operation is ongoing. More details to follow.
