Garda entry into EU system yields two arrests in five days

Two Eastern European men have become the first people arrested by gardaí using the newly acquired Schengen Information System (SIS 2).

SIS 2 allows police forces across 30 countries (the 26 EU countries plus four others) to share information on missing persons, criminal suspects and stolen property.

Checks for wanted persons are automatically carried out at passport controls and whenever gardaí check a name on the PULSE system.

Ireland officially joined the system on Monday. That same day a garda in Cavan searched for the name of a person on the Pulse system, causing the system to alert the garda that the person was wanted in Poland.

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The suspect, a Polish male aged in his 30s, was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant and brought before the High Court the next day.

On Thursday, gardaí in Bandon, Co Cork were conducting a Roads Policing checkpoint at 1.40am when they arrested a Slovakian man, aged in his 30s, for driving under the influence of drugs. He also had no insurance and was driving while disqualified.

While he was detained at Bandon Garda Station, gardaí checked his name on Pulse and discovered a European Arrest Warrant had been issued by the Slovakian authorities.

He was brought before the High Court for an extradition hearing that same day.

A new Garda bureau, the Supplementary Information Request at the National Entries (Sirene) Bureau has been established to operate the SIS 2. It will operate 24 hours a day to input Irish alerts and alert other police forces if an alert is triggered here.

"Accessing such information means that An Garda Síochána can swiftly deal with issues of serious crime with potential links to other European countries," Commissioner Drew Harris said on Monday.