CAB monitoring 40 active targets in Meath

ANN CASEY
The Criminal Assets Bureau has almost 40 targets in Meath who are believed to be benefiting from the proceeds of crimes including drug trafficking and burglaries.
The number of targets in the County has almost doubled this year and Meath has the third highest number in the state, according to figures released by CAB.
The figures come just over a month after a series of major raids by CAB on houses in the Ashbourne and Navan areas, in which stolen cars, ecstacy, cash and an air rifle were recovered.
Dublin has the highest number of CAB targets, followed by Limerick with Wexford and Meath in joint third position.
Detective Chief Superintendent Patrick Clavin said “I addressed every joint policing committee in the country and last May I spoke in Meath where I said there were 22 targets in Meath and since then it has increased to 40.

“There has been an increase in the numbers with suspicious wealth and in the gardai who are trained as asset profilers.
“These local gardai are our early eyes and ears and identify likely targets,” he explained.
Mr Clavin said that in some instances those who are targets may have moved to Meath from Dublin or elsewhere.
“We record the targets by the addresses they are living at and they may be active in one area and living in another,” he said,
“The great majority of cases” in Meath involve drug trafficking, followed by those who are involved in burglaries and robberies.
“Fuel and cigarette smuggling are also targeted but drugs is the top, followed by burglary and robbery.”
He said the targets can often be families or a group of associates involved in crime.
“We get a lot of help from the asset profilers but also from all locally based gardai and Customs,” he said.
Det Chief Superintendent Clavin wants the public's help in identifying targets.
“We are asking the public to look out for people with unexplained wealth that have lifestyles that are beyond their obvious earnings and to contact us and we will conduct confidential enquiries,” he said.

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In a major operation last November, CAB officers raided four houses in the Ashbourne Garda District and one in Navan focusing on the activities of an organised crime gang operating in the county - who are all members of the one family.
A Toyota Landcruiser, Toyota Hi Lux and Toyota Avensis were seized along with €2,500 worth of ecstacy, €1,500 in cash and an air rifle were all seized as part of that operation.
Mr Clavin said that the raids see the recovery of stolen property and the stripping of the benefits of crime from the criminals.
CAB has now identified 973 targets across the country, up 60 per cent from the 600 cases it had in 2016.
The Criminal Assets Bureau was set up following the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996.
It is tasked with targeting assets obtained directly, or indirectly, from criminal activity.
The agency has the power to seize assets if officers believe they are the proceeds of crime.