THE Garda Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) recouped over €1million for the Exchequer over the past 48 hours from the sale of properties linked to criminals in Limerick, Dublin, and Waterford.
Head of CAB, Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins, said it showed that if individuals splash their ill-gotten cash, their assets will be seized by CAB and sold back to the Exchequer.
“The taking of these properties sends a very visible message to the communities in which these people reside and who have been benefitting from the proceeds of crime,” said Det Chief Supt Gubbins.
This Thursday (February 26), CAB sold two properties in Limerick, for a combined €341,000, linked to Limerick gangster Kieran Keane Jr, which were deemed were the proceeds of crime by the High Court.
Keane is understood to be living between Spain and Limerick, and has been a “driving force” in organised crime, Gardaí told the High Court.
Keane’s late father, Kieran Keane Sr, was kidnapped, tortured, shot, and his body was dumped on a country lane at Drombana, County Limerick, in 2003.
Five members of the McCarthy Dundon crime gang were each jailed for life for the murder.
Keane Sr’s nephew, Owen Treacy, was also kidnapped and stabbed 17 times in the same attack, however he survived and his sworn testimony in court against the five killers was key in their convictions.
Gardaí told the High Court that Kieran Keane Jr is involved in organised crime and has invested large sums of cash in luxury goods, cars, and property.
He had ties to at least three homes, cars, and has also travelled to Spain, Dubai, UK, and Lapland, Gardaí told the High Court.
The court also heard that Keane Jr could not explain the source of €101,000 in a bank account held in his name.
The two properties linked to Keane Jr were sold in an online auction held by BRG Gibson Auctions on Thursday.
A home at Sarsfield Court, Garryowen, a mid-terrace three-bedroom house, was sold for €173,000, 70,000 over the appraised market value, after six bidders vied for the house.
Another home at The Path, Garryowen, an end-of-terrace, three-bedroom house, sold for €168,000, 48,000 above the appraised market value, with two bidders involved.
On Wednesday, CAB sold a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home at Ratoath Road, Dublin 7, from Cabra-based drug dealer David Waldron, for €490,000.
High Court judge Alexander Owens found Waldron’s property was the proceeds of crime and he was a “major player in the illegal distribution and sale of drugs”.
Speaking following the sale of Keane Jr’s properties, CAB boss Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins said: “In the last two days, the Criminal Assets Bureau sold four properties which were deemed to be the proceeds of crime, realising in excess of a million euro.”
“It also reflects the cooperation between the Criminal Assets Bureau and the local Gardaí on the ground in these communities and it obviously sends a message to the wider public that CAB is targeting individuals in their communities who are benefitting from the proceeds of crime.”