UPDATE: Teenager charged with fraudulently claiming pandemic welfare payments

A teenager who was arrested for fraudulently claiming no fewer than Covid-19 welfare payments has been charged in connection with the offences.

Gardai confirmed the suspect, who is in his late teens, will appear before Mullingar District Court on June 12.

The teenager was arrested as part of a joint operation involving gardaí attached to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) and officers on secondment at the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP).

A Garda spokesperson said yesterday: “A search was conducted at a house in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath today, Thursday 21st May 2020 on foot of intelligence received from DEASP in relation to these fraudulent payments.

“The suspected offender was receiving six separate Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payments into a bank account, in what are believed to be bogus names.

“During the course of the search operation, a sum of cash and counterfeit cash was seized. The man was arrested at the scene and taken to Mullingar Garda Station where he is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.”