DUBLIN/INTERNATIONAL – International police forces, including the Garda Síochána and Europol, have significantly intensified their offensive against sophisticated Irish organised crime groups (OCGs), which are utilizing a “fly-in-fly-out” model to execute high-value burglaries across the UK, the US, and Australia.
The escalation in tactics, which mirrors strategies previously reserved for transnational drug cartels, reflects the growing recognition that these burglary rings are not merely opportunistic, but operate as meticulously planned, highly mobile enterprises.
Global Reach and Organised Crime
These OCGs are responsible for a spate of violent and non-violent burglaries, targeting affluent areas in major British cities, as well as increasingly penetrating markets in North America and Australia, with recent arrests in Melbourne highlighting their broad reach. Intelligence shows the gangs conduct extensive, pre-operational reconnaissance to gather information on targets before making rapid strikes and quickly leaving the jurisdiction.
According to a security source, the focus is now less on local patrol and more on disrupting the criminal’s entire business model. The Garda’s organised crime unit and Europol are integrating intelligence to counter the “fluid and flexible” nature of the gangs, who exploit international borders to evade detection.
New Multi-Agency Tactics
The coordinated international response is centered on three core lines of action:
- Financial Disruption (The ‘Follow the Money’ Approach): Authorities are aggressively targeting the money laundering infrastructure used to process the proceeds from stolen cash and jewellery. By choking off the financing routes and seizing illicit assets, police aim to make the transnational operation financially unsustainable.
- Advanced Data Fusion and Intelligence: Through Europol, law enforcement agencies are fusing information from Ireland, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), and police forces overseas. This critical data fusion is key to predicting the gangs’ next locations and timing, enabling preemptive operations before the crimes occur.
- Proactive Border Control: Increased vigilance at international ports and airports is being deployed to intercept the movement of suspects and prevent the transport of both criminal tools (such as signal jammers) and stolen property out of the target countries.
This strategic alignment transforms the fight against property crime into a coordinated global effort, ensuring these highly adaptable Irish OCGs can no longer treat sovereign borders as safe havens.
