Gardaí in Cork have resumed searches on Friday for two men suspected of being involved in attempted burglaries after they arrested another man during a search of marshland near the city.
Gardaí believe the men are members of an organised travelling crime gang based in Tallaght, west Dublin, who went to Cork yesterday to carry out day-time burglaries on private residences in the city and suburbs.
They suspect that the gang were behind a number of attempted break-ins in Cork city on Friday as well as break-ins around the Cork North Division area.
Two members of the gang were disturbed while trying to break into a house on Coach Hill in Rochestown at around 3pm. They fled in a waiting grey-coloured Audi being driven by a third man as the homeowner alerted gardaí.
TheAudi collided with a Garda patrol car responding to the call, and the men drove on to the N40 Southern Ring Road via the Bloomfield interchange and headed east for the Jack Lynch Tunnel and the N8 back to Dublin.
Gardaí believed the men feared they would be caught in the tunnel by gardaí and drove up a service road that runs over the entrance to the tunnel and headed west along the N40 with a number of Garda cars chasing.
The gang abandoned their car on the westbound lane of the dual carriageway and crossed four lanes of traffic on foot, fleeing through marshland in the Douglas River estuary before making their way towards Mahon Golf Course.
Gardaí mounted a search involving up to 60 officers including armed members of the Regional Support Unit as well as the Dog Unit and the Garda Air Support Unit fixed-wing airplane equipped with thermal imaging.
Shortly before 7pm, gardaí found one of the gang hiding in bushes in scrubland near Bessboro Industrial Estate in Blackrock, and he was arrested and brought to Togher Garda Station for questioning.
The man (28), who is from Tallaght, was detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, which allows gardaí hold anyone they suspect of being involved in organised crime for a period of up to seven days.
Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have seen two men dressed in grey or green tracksuits, and possibly covered in mud in the Mahon area, to contact them at Anglesea Street Garda Station on 021-4522000.
Garda technical experts are examining the recovered Audi car and investigating whether it was stolen.
