The cars include BMW, Land Rover and Audi models.
The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) have seized 80 cars worth in excess of €2 million in total, as well as €21,000 in cash, as part of an investigation carried out in Clare and Tipperary.
Working in conjunction with police officers from the Economic Crime Bureau attached to West Midlands Police in the United Kingdom, the CAB carried out an operation, named Operation Bagana, in those counties on Thursday (24 September) as part of a cyber-fraud and money laundering investigation in the UK.
The CAB investigation is focussed on the assets of an international organised crime group suspected of laundering the proceeds of mandate fraud committed in the UK via a used car outlet in Tipperary.
Searches were conducted at two residential and one business premises in Clare, and two residential and one business premises in County Tipperary. The search of the one business premises in County Tipperary, a used car outlet, remains ongoing.
So far, 80 cars with an approximate total value in excess of €2 million have been seized, as well as €21,000 in cash, while over €200,000 has been restrained in financial accounts linked to the organised criminal group.
The search operation carried out on Thursday involved the CAB, the Emergency Response Unit, the Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation Unit, the Garda National Immigration Bureau and the Garda Technical Bureau, with assistance from the Revenue Customs Dog Unit.
Speaking about the operation, the Chief Bureau Officer, Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins said: "Today’s search operation is an example of the ongoing cooperation between the Criminal Assets Bureau, An Garda Síochána and UK Police Forces in the investigation of International Organised Criminal Groups.
“Our activities are in furtherance of the CAB mission ‘to deny and deprive’.”
All images via Facebook/An Garda Síochána
