The Criminal Assets Bureau has secured High Court "freezing" orders against a man and his partner. The court was told the man was suspected by CAB to be a member of an armed gang believed to have carried out robberies in the Munster area.
Neither Mr Alan Freeman nor his partner Ms Samantha Roche, Pearse Park, Tipperary, were able to properly account for some €100,000 that passed through their accounts and hands in the year 2003, a CAB officer told the court yesterday.
Mr Freeman had also refused to comment on the purchase of a new Toyota Avensis car, with an 04 registration number, which was paid for through the trade-in of a 1999 Opel Vectra and some €20,800 in €50 notes, CAB said.
On the application of the Bureau, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Finnegan, made an order freezing some €32,525 held in an Irish Nationwide account and also made an order for the seizure of the Toyota car.
The court was told CAB believed the property in question constituted, directly or indirectly, the proceeds of crime.
In an affidavit, a CAB officer said that, since moving to Tipperary town, Mr Freeman had come to the attention of local gardaí and was suspected to be a member of a gang believed to have carried out a number of armed robberies in the past 12 months. These robberies netted a total of some €466,000.
The robberies included the theft of some €17,000 from Lidl, Tipperary town, on January 4th, 2003; €73,000 from Bank of Ireland, Lismore, Co Waterford, on August 23rd, 2003, and €235,000 from Bank of Ireland, Mountrath, Co Laois, on November 17th, 2003.
The application for the orders was not opposed. If the order is not successfully challenged within seven years, the monies in question may be passed to the Exchequer.
