The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) last year enjoyed one of the biggest in its history, largely based on serving tax demands on criminals and selling property seized from them.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee on Tuesday is due to brief the Cabinet on Cab’s progress and also her plans to significantly increase the capacity of the bureau.
As The Irish Times reports, garda sources said the high value of assets seized and amount of money returned to the State last year came as the economy returned to Celtic Tiger-like conditions and the demand for drugs mirrored the Republic’s prosperity.
The demand for cocaine was especially strong, even though the wholesale price of the drug has increased to €40,000 per kilo from €25,000 over the last 12 months amid major cocaine seizures in the State.
Some 188 searches were carried out by the bureau last year across 22 counties.
The bureau also held its first publicly advertised online auction last year, raising €446,000 from the sale of over 100 seized items including watches and designer clothes.
Ms McEntee is due to set out to Cabinet her plan to increase the bureau’s capacity by 45 per cent over the next two years, as part of a new strategic plan. It is aimed at expanding Cab’s intelligence-gathering and enforcement activities.
The Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2023, which Ms McEntee also plans to bring to Government within weeks, will streamline Cab’s work, and give it a stronger hand in dealing with organised crime.
The bureau will no longer have to wait for seven years in cases which are fought by criminals to dispose of assets declared the proceeds of crime. Instead, it will be able to dispose of them within two years.
Cab has in recent years targeted many leading figures in the Kinahan cartel as well as ‘The Family’ crime group that has surpassed it to become Ireland’s biggest drug trafficking gang.
The bureau has also been targeting less prominent gang leaders across the country, with more cases live at any one time than ever before.
