Detective Chief Superintendent Patrick Clavin said yesterday’s raids, which took place in counties Dublin, Limerick, Meath and Longford, showed CAB was relentless in its pursuit of criminally-acquired assets.
The operation resulted in the seizure of a large sum of cash, a number of luxury vehicles, top-end watches and the freezing of a bank account which was said to have a substantial amount of money in it.
“The motivation of these organised crime gangs is greed for wealth and we will do all we can to deprive them of this wealth,” Det Supt Clavin said.
In total around 150 officers from CAB, backed by garda armed-support units, specialist detective units and uniformed gardaí were involved in the planned operation.
They searched 20 homes, 18 businesses and one gymnasium.
They seized about €15,000 in cash along with five vehicles.
These included an Audi Q7, a Mercedes Vito, a VW Golf Mark 7 GTD, a VW Golf and a high-powered Honda motorcycle.
The haul also included two Rolex watches and watches manufactured by Breitling, Cartier and Legend.
CAB has also acquired a freezing order in respect of a substantial amount of money in the bank account.
The officers also seized a large quantity of documents and a number of mobile phones which will be examined as part of its ongoing investigation.
It’s believed that the operation targeted a significant member of the Kinahan gang who is well known to gardaí.
CAB officers believe that the man, who is understood to be 34 and from Dublin, is the Kinahan’s main logistics operative on the northside of the city.
Reports suggest that he is a convicted armed robber who was caught some years ago in Spain in possession of a handgun. However, he managed to slip out of that country on a false passport.
The Kinahan gang is also known to operate out of Spain.
It’s believed that CAB is targeting the man’s property portfolio which is said to include a flat in Dublin city, two homes, a site and industrial units in north county Dublin and two houses in Limerick.
No arrests were made during yesterday’s operation, which began at 5am.