THE CRIMINAL Assets Bureau (Cab) has seized two bullet-proof BMW cars from members of one of Limerick’s feuding gangs. The vehicles, a BMW X5 4X4 and a BMW 3 Series car, were registered to brothers Ger and Wayne Dundon.
Gardaí believe the cars were imported from Germany some time at the end of 2007. They appeared on the streets of Limerick in early 2008 and were confiscated by Cab in April 2008.
Yesterday in the High Court Mr Justice Kevin Feeney granted Cab a Section 3 order under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which effectively confirms the vehicles are the proceeds of crime. The order, which clears the way for the disposal of the vehicles, was granted to the head of Cab, Det Chief Supt John O’Mahoney, and bureau chief legal officer Frank Cassidy.
The vehicles were ordered by the Dundon brothers from Germany, where both were modified to the brothers’ specifications.
The vehicles are worth about €150,000 and have bullet-proof glass and reinforced armoured doors. They were seized as part of Operation Platinum, under which Cab has now seized five vehicles in Limerick.
The bureau also seized a Mitsubishi Shogun 4X4 worth €50,000 in January. Last month Cab sold a Toyota Landcruiser and a Toyota Avensis worth an estimated €60,000 and €90,000 respectively from a rival Limerick criminal gang.
They were owned by Limerick gang member Phillip Collopy and his Cork-born associate Brian Scanlon. Both men belong to a crime gang once led by murdered drug dealer Kieran Keane. Currently five members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang are in prison serving life for Keane’s murder.
Cab officers in Limerick and Dublin are continuing to analyse seized documents to identify more of the gangs’ assets.
