Seven people are due to appear in court this morning to answer charges in connection with an extortion campaign around the country by an armed gang.
Gardaí believe the gang was kidnapping foreign nationals in their vehicles after posing as possible purchasers of cars that had been offered for sale on a website.
It is alleged that when the gang members went to view the cars, they falsely imprisoned the owners of the vehicles and then demanded a ransom of several thousand euro from their friends or family to secure their release. The cars being offered for sale were also stolen during the kidnappings.
The six men and one woman, who are all from Lithuania and are in their 30s, will appear before Kilmainham District Court after a number of charges were put to them at different Garda stations in Dublin last night. All of their alleged victims are believed to be from eastern Europe.
Six of the group were arrested in Saggart, Co Dublin, on Saturday. A seventh person was detained in Clondalkin on Sunday. They were all arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. When making the arrests, gardaí found a number of firearms, along with five stolen cars and other stolen property.
It is believed the gang targeted members of the foreign national community across the country in recent months. It is unclear how long they had been operating before they were detected.
However, gardaí believe they can link the recovered stolen cars to at least five people who fell victim to the gang. They are also satisfied the gang operated out of Dublin but went as far as Kilkenny to carry out their crimes.
In some cases, after the gang kidnapped a victim and stole their car, they were able to find out the victim's address and went to that house to steal more property.
