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 is today due to brief the Cabinet on Cab’s progress and also her plans to significantly increase the capacity of the bureau.
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 yearacross 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.
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Ms McEntee was today 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.
[ Assets to be disposed of faster under new plans for Criminal Assets BureauOpens in new window ]
The bureau has also been targeting less prominent gang leaders across the country, with more cases live at any one time than ever before.
The policy of targeting mid-ranking criminals before they grow more powerful was begun by Cab’s former head Pat Clavin. It has been continued by Det Chief Supt Michael Gubbins, who assumed the leadership role after Mr Clavin retired.
[ Drugs worth €16m seized and 11 arrested as gardaí expand major gangland operationOpens in new window ]
Just over €8.65 million in cash taken from criminals or raised through the sale of seized assets was transferred to the Exchequer last year by Cab, the largest sum for at least 15 years. Some €2.2 million arose from proceeds of crime cases, while €5.8 million came from tax demands and €640,000 from social welfare recoveries.
Cases initiated by Cab last year – and in other recent years – are not included in the figure for funds returned to the Exchequer in 2023 as most of those cases are yet to be finalised.
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