Three appear in Roscommon court linked with theft of large quantity of tools “the length and breadth of the country”
Two men and a woman, all aged in their 30s, appeared before a special sitting of Roscommon District Court today, Tuesday, charged in connection with the theft of a large quantity of tools from various locations across the country.
As part of the ongoing operation targeting theft of tools and tradesmen’s equipment, Gardaí arrested and charged the three in connection with a number of alleged crimes.
The three accused appeared before Roscommon District Court today as investigating Gardaí from Castlerea, Longford and Tuam gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.
The two men are facing multiple counts of stealing power tools from several locations around the country, including Roscommon and Athlone. They are also facing criminal damage charges.
One of the men, whom the court heard is on social welfare, is also facing two charges of money laundering. Investigating Gardaí told the court that following examination of his bank account, large amounts of money were being lodged and withdrawn from his account.
The woman is facing six charges of aiding and abetting the alleged theft of power tools and criminal damage.
Two of the accused have addresses in Tuam while one of the men has an address in Dublin. All the alleged offences took place in 2023.
The court heard that the three accused were also linked to a particular Dublin address where registration documents were discovered linking vehicles allegedly involved in the crimes.
During the extensive Garda investigation, the accused have been allegedly linked to a series of crimes, which the court was told were committed “the length and breadth of the country”. CCTV footage was examined during the investigation to identify the accused. Cloned registration plates were also used in some of the crimes, the court was informed by investigating officers.
Judge Deirdre Gearty was told that the two men had 83 and 52 previous convictions respectively. The woman has no previous convictions.
Judge Gearty denied the three bail applications made by their defence solicitor, citing Gardaí concerns, the seriousness of the offences and the potential for further offences being committed.
The Judge remanded the woman in custody to appear before Castlerea District Court on Friday morning next while the two men will appear before a sitting of Harristown District Court on Friday.
In a statement issued earlier, a Garda spokesperson said that a planned day of action conducted by Castlerea Gardaí took place on February 8th last 2024, involving searches of premises in Co Galway and Co Dublin.
During the course of these searches, the two men and the woman were arrested and detained at Garda Stations in the Mayo/Roscommon/Longford Division.
A number of follow up searches took place at locations in the Dublin Metropolitan Region yesterday, Monday, February 12th, and resulted in the recovery of a large amount of property.
