AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA has hailed an “exceptional level of success” after its organised crime unit revealed that it has seized over €5 million in cash last year.

The largest seizure of last year was made in January, where €1.6 million in cash was seized after two vehicles and a hotel bedroom in Dublin 1 and 5 were searched.

The seizure of €488,000 following an operation at the Port Tunnel Plaza in recent days brings the total of cash seized by personnel from Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) to over €24 million since its establishment.

Since the GNDOCB was set up in 2015, it has seized a total of €24,300,241, £264,326 in Sterling and $3,721 in US dollars, which Gardaí said today represented “an exceptional level of success”.

A further €11 million has been forfeited to the State following court proceedings initiated by GNDOCB in the past six years.

In 2021, 16 people were convicted in the higher courts arising from investigations undertaken by the GNDOCB, associated with cash they have seized.

Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, who has a lead role within An Garda Síochána to tackle organised crime, said the Bureau’s priority is to “deplete organised criminal finance and with an objective of dismantling the organised groups involved”.

“In this regard, significant success has been achieved in recent times, in the course of operations and investigations undertaken by the GNDOCB.

The targeting of relevant assets, in the first instance, followed by the locating and seizing of those assets and, later, by the charging and prosecuting of suspects, through use of money laundering and organised crime related legislative provisions, has been a key component of the organised crime related strategy adopted by An Garda Síochána and the GNDOCB, in particular.