The head of the Garda's Criminal Assets Bureau, which has seized millions of pounds worth of assets in the past three years, has been promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner, writes Jim Cusack, Security Correspondent.
Chief Supt Fachtna Murphy's promotion was approved by Government yesterday and he will take up the rank immediately.
As the Garda officer in charge of the CAB, Chief Supt Murphy oversaw several major operations against organised crime.
The bureau has come to be seen as one of the most effective weapons devised by the State for combating organised crime. In a speech in the Dail last week the Minister for Justice said the CAB had frozen assets worth £10 million, had issued tax demands for £19 million and saved almost £1 million in social welfare payments.
The new assistant commissioner has spent a large part of his career investigating fraud, but has also served in Dublin divisions. He was in charge of the Eastern Metropolitan area on promotion to chief superintendent and then moved back to take charge of the Fraud Bureau. He transferred to take charge of the CAB when it was set up in 1996.
He is 52 years old and a native of Cork.