Gang members allegedly pose as gardaí and target rural homes to steal cash

Tomas Doherty

Five people have been arrested as part of an investigation into criminal gangs involved in impersonating gardaí across 15 counties.

A number of searches are ongoing across Dublin and Leinster on Tuesday morning.

The operation looked into alleged theft and fraud by members of a criminal gang, who were calling into rural homes and impersonating gardaí.

The group claimed they were investigating a number of burglaries in the area where sums of cash were stolen.

They requested to compare cash being held by the victims and then proceeded to take it away completely.

The investigation, which is led by a senior investigating officer based out of an incident room in Kilkenny, has been probing the gang's activities across 15 counties, primarily in the east and the midlands, over the past 10 months.

Two men in their 30s, one in his 50s, another in his 60s and a woman in her 50s were arrested by gardaí on Tuesday morning.

They are being held at five separate garda stations.

An Garda Síochána is reminding the public that a genuine garda member would never cold call to a house and check cash in this way.