Gardaí investigating international fugitives who have been living openly in Ireland are expected to make dozens of arrests over the coming weeks.
This week the first tranche of suspects were arrested by members of the Extradition Unit, a part of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI), and brought before the courts.
In the first phase gardaí focused on fugitives who were judged to pose a risk to local communities. Twelve people were arrested in connection with offences including assisting in murder, drug trafficking, robbery and organised crime offences.
All 12 were brought before the High Court on foot on extradition warrants. Their cases were adjourned to various future dates.
“The purpose of the operation over the last number of days was to locate and arrest fugitives, with a focus on those fugitives who pose a risk to local communities,” said Det Supt Michael Mullen of the GNBCI.
Sources said the arrests were the first part of an operation which will see up to 50 people detained and brought before the courts for extradition in the near future.
Most of those arrested this week were living in the south and west of the country, including Cork, Limerick and Clare. The arrests took place between Tuesday and Thursday.
The operation was made possible largely through Ireland’s membership of the second-generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) which the Garda joined in March of 2021.
The EU system shares real-time data on fugitives with police forces and border agents to tackle Europe-wide crime. It allows gardaí to check the names of people living openly in Ireland against an EU-wide database of wanted criminals. It can also be used to find missing persons and property.
Within four months of joining the system, arrests of international suspects and fugitives in Ireland more than tripled. The system has allowed gardaí to locate and extradite fugitives who in some cases have been living in Ireland for many years. Within six months of operation, 120 fugitives had been arrested.
These include Youcef Madani (53), an Algerian national who was convicted in absentia in France for terrorism offences in 2001. He had been living undetected in Ireland for 20 years until he was stopped by gardaí last September and his name was automatically run through SIS II. A match was immediately returned for one of his aliases which showed he was wanted in France.
This week his lawyers objected to his extradition to France where he would face a new trial, arguing he would be subject to inhumane prison conditions there.
He is wanted for making false documents relating to facilitating terrorism and weapons trafficking.
