GARDAÍ and members of the Defence Forces are conducting a series of search operations around the Limerick Clare border this Thursday (January 16), as part of an ongoing Garda criminal investigation in the Limerick area.
A large contingent of Gardaí and Defence Forces personnel deployed to the village of Meelick, County Clare, on the border with Limerick City, earlier as part of a wider search investigation.
Searches are ongoing and those involved in the operation have utilised a digger machine.
Meanwhile, in a separate and ongoing joint Garda-Revenue investigation, a man aged in his late 20s, who was arrested on Wednesday (January 15) off a cargo vessel on the Shannon Estuary, destined for County Limerick waters, remains in custody at a Garda station in County Clare.
Gardaí said the 28-year-old man was being detained under suspicion of “facilitating or enhancing a criminal organisation to commit a serious offence”.
The investigation involves officers from the Revenue Customs Service supported by Gardaí attached to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
The Royal bulk carrier, sailing under a Maltese Flag, left Porto Trombetas, Brazil, on December 27 last, and was destined for Aughinish, County Limerick on January 12.
As part of the investigation Gardaí, said four other males, in their 30s and 40s, were being detained at a Garda station in County Kerry on suspicion of assisting an organised crime group to commit a serious offence at Meenoghane, County Kerry, on January 13.