The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) has confiscated property and cash valued at almost €600,000 from a member of a well-known drug-dealing gang operating on the north side of Dublin.
Paul "Burger" Walsh (26), with an address at Foxhill Green, Baldoyle, had begun to build a property portfolio in Dublin, Laois and Wexford when his drug-dealing activities came to the attention of Cab. It immediately began an investigation.
The High Court was told that the bureau's investigations showed that Walsh had built his house in Baldoyle, was the owner of another property in Valley View, Swords, and was in the process of buying two other houses in Co Laois, despite having no legitimate source of income that would explain his investments.
He had also acquired a mobile home and site in Curracloe, Co Wexford, and was found to have in the region of €80,000 in a bank account which he controlled.
Walsh had begun making improvements to the mobile home and site when gardaí became aware of its existence.
Mr Justice Kevin Feeney in the High Court yesterday granted the bureau orders freezing the cash and the caravan and site in Wexford.
Some €39,000 that was about to be paid as a deposit for two houses in Kilnacourt Wood, Portarlington, Co Laois, as well as the house in Swords valued at about €350,000, were also frozen.
Walsh retains the property at Foxhill Green, Baldoyle, because, unlike the other assets, it was not adjudged to be the proceeds of crime.
The freezing or interim orders were granted after the head of the Criminal Assets Bureau, Det Chief Supt John O'Mahoney, told the court that Walsh was a drug dealer who was engaged in large-scale drug-trafficking throughout the Dublin region.
Bureau legal officer Frank Cassidy has been appointed as receiver in the case. He will divest the property assets and will transfer the proceeds of the sale to the Minister for Finance.
Walsh has 26 convictions dating from 2000, when he was still a teenager. He was caught with a quantity of cocaine in late 2005.
The bureau's investigation found that Walsh was a member of an organised crime gang in Dublin.
Gardaí examined his financial statements and concluded that the nature of deposits and withdrawals to and from a bank account, with an estimated €80,000, on deposit was consistent with involvement in crime.
The €39,000 that was about to be paid as deposit for the two houses in Portarlington was returned and placed in a bank account when the Cab's investigation started.
Walsh was also found to have paid almost €40,000 for the site and caravan in Co Wexford.
None of the money involved in the transactions, nor Walsh's general expenditure, could be explained by any legitimate source of income.
He was found to have a controlling interest in the house Swords after detectives attached to the bureau uncovered financial documentation from third parties relating to the purchase of the property.
The date of sale of the assets covered by the High Court order granted yesterday has yet to be decided.