Gardai claim guns being bought in Ireland over the net

Irishglockfan

RTE main news tonite[9/2/05]
Gardai claim that criminal gangs in Dublin are ordering firearms at appx $500 over the internet for their uses from the USA.

The report featured a softair CAR15, claimed by the reporter to be able to fire "thousands of steel ball bearings or plastic pelletts a minute"and that it "was totally illegal in Ireland" followed by a scruffy OU shotgun and what loked like a few blankfirer pistols.Not to mind an "Alien head" hookah hash pipe , couple of ounces of morrocan,a few swords and misc bayonets and baseball bats.


So might I ask where were the real semi auto AR15 or AKs or handguns that can be so easily bought in the USA according to all media types? surely with instant backround check in the US and close garda/ FBI /interpol cooperation it should be a doddle to track who,where and when,bought or sold these guns in the US from here?

Looks like RTE is getting the old sensationiism bug about guns again?
Badly researched quick thrill article INMHO

Sparks

Yeah, a rather fustrating article to watch, especially when he kept calling the airsoft a replica that could fire. *sigh*
I keep saying it, we need a professional PR company on permanent retainer...

chem

yea seen the piece on the news alright. the shot gun would have looked better on the antiques roadshow. This is what 2FM had to say on there news beat:

Gardaí in Blanchardstown say criminal gangs are now sourcing illegal firearms on the internet and having them delivered through the post. In a series of searches detectives working on Operation Crossover - set up to target organised crime in Northwest Dublin - have recovered replica submachine guns and assault rifles capable of firing steel and hard plastic ammunition. They've also seized large quantities of sawn off shotguns, pistols, ammunition, drugs, scanners and counterfeit DVD's. Over one hundred and thirty people have been arrested since the operation began just nearly three months ago.

If all that was displayed on the table on the rte news was the result of 3 months and 130 people being arrested, i`ll sleep safe in my bed tonight.

I was nearly starting to believe the gardi myself, that there was alot of semi autos and sub machine guns out there.

civdef

Those roving airsofter drive-by gangs are a menace to society I tells ya...

Sparks

Irishglockfan wrote:

The report featured a softair CAR15, claimed by the reporter to be able to fire "thousands of steel ball bearings or plastic pelletts a minute"and that it "was totally illegal in Ireland"

It's been repeated just now on RTE2, but he actually doesn't say "per minute", just that it "can fire thousands of steel or hard plastic balls".
And technically, it is totally illegal in Ireland - just like any other firearm that you possess without a licence...

Sparks

From today's Irish Independent:

Operation Crossover foils ATM robberies and internet gun racket



A MASSIVE Garda operation has scored an unprecedented success in the war on organised crime.

The operation, codenamed Crossover Two, is aimed specifically at gangsters in the crime blackspot of Dublin West but its impact has been felt everywhere since its launch last November.

The Irish Independent has already reported the arrest of almost 300 suspects and large seizures of weapons.

But senior officers now say that the targeting has introduced paranoia into gangland and known criminals are admitting they cannot move far without being spotted and tailed.

Checkpoints are being set up near the homes of targeted suspects and the move is being fully supported by local residents who blame a handful of families for the crime wave in areas such as Blanchardstown and Finglas.

Two of the main gangs responsible for the spate of robberies from cash deliveries to ATMs last year have been put of action. One senior garda said: "They can no longer hang around corners and carry out their reconnaissance in preparation for a robbery.

"If we see them at corners their names are taken and fed into the Pulse computer system which is being used to collate all of the intelligence," he added.

The intelligence-driven operation has also smashed a racket of smuggling in replica weapons through the post after purchasing them over the internet.

Gardai involved in Operation Crossover recovered three of the weapons, lookalike AK47, MI6 and Heckler and Koch assault rifles, in searches in the Finglas area in the past week.

The replicas can be bought from dealers in the US at prices from $400 to $500 but many of the packages are being intercepted by An Post officials at the SDS centre at the Naas Road.

However, a number of packages slipped through the controls and ended up in the hands of crime gangs responsible for a spate of robberies across Dublin.

The much-criticised Pulse computer system is proving its worth in Crossover and every garda being sent on patrol is brought fully up to date on developments before leaving the station.

Detectives have arrested and charged 131 people with criminal offences so far while seizures have included an arms cache including a submachinegun recovered from a house in Clonee before Christmas, as well as four shotguns and a rifle found in a car stopped at Rathcoole.

And from the Times:

Gangs importing replica guns

West Dublin criminal gangs have been importing replica sub-machine-guns and assault rifles over the Internet capable of firing steel balls and hard plastic ammunition which, gardaí say, can cause serious injury when fired at close range.

The weapons were part of a major haul of drugs, firearms and other weapons seized in west Dublin during Operation Crossover, which was mounted in Blanchardstown and Finglas over the Christmas and new year period.

Gardaí believe the replica weapons have been sourced from US websites for around $500 and delivered to gang members in Dublin through the postal system. Some of the weapons were seized during searches while others had been intercepted in the post.

While the weapons are replicas, because they can fire ammunition they are legally classed as firearms in the Republic. Possession of the guns is an offence.

Around 1,000 checkpoints were mounted by gardaí in the West Dublin area under Operation Crossover leading to the arrest of almost 150 suspects. As well as the replica guns an assortment of other weapons was also seized, including sawn-off shotguns, pistols and ammunition.

A variety of illicit drugs were also intercepted as well as counterfeit DVDs and scanners used by criminals to listen in on the Garda radio system.

Operation Crossover was begun in late November after the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, announced he was making available EUR4 million extra for Garda overtime to the end of 2004. The operation was first staged in late 2003 in an effort to calm an outbreak of feuding between rival factions in Finglas and Blanchardstown.

Under the latest Operation Crossover gardaí targeted around 12 leading gangland figures, and their associates. The operation involved local gardaí and armed members of the Emergency Response Unit patrolling suburban streets and erecting roaming checkpoints.
© The Irish Times

Sparks

And last night's news broadcast is on the RTE website here now if you have realplayer.

Fallschirmjager

oh god i guess that will ruin my chances with the local police. i bet they wont want to hear the word airsoft now... :mad:

and certainly putting my name into the very reputible PULSE system along with some gang bangers is not neceaarily what i would like.

why is it everytime in ireland there is an issue like this, EVERY TIME, we are all blasted with the same brush....i mean is there one journalist anywhere on this island that can look and see what was said in the article without panicking it up..and look and see that a criminal...is not the same as a law abiding person and we should not be classified together...


do we have any journalist that is prepared to deal with this issue is a level headed manner...anyone.....anyone???

Irishglockfan

Yes,there was a journalist who did look favourbly on gun ownership.Mary Ellen Synon.Unfortuneatly she got herself slammed out by a Kevin Myers "bastard" style comment on disabled people a few years back.Amazing how sensitive people can get.Wonder how us shooters put up with all the degrogarty comments and articles?no one jumps to our defence...oh well!!

As for the PULSE,well it shows that comment came from top brass.Those that use it on a daily basis HATE the damn thing!!It apprently has TRIPLED the paperwork,freezes up and looses information on a daily basis which after rebooting[at local HQ level] has to be reenterd again,thus causing more delay work and fustration for the poor ol bill.[Wonder did our glorious leaders buy this system off the same crowd that flogged them the duff election computors! :rolleyes: ]

All in all it is a disaster.It had me down as having sold my rifle to a fellah in cork whom i had never heard of.
turns out he had a rifle with the same serial no as mine,.Execpt they were two different makers
mine is ANSCHUTZ his was BRNO
Go figure why they dont add in the makers names.
Maybe PULSE cant handle it?
so be prepared for major clusterf^&ks in the future.Pray you dont share the same name with the local post office blagger!

Not that seems to matter,a local ner do well was discoverd here in Limerick to be in possesion of a legally held shotgun liscensed to him.Got it whilst out on day release from Limerick nick!!!In for,post office robberies with a sawn off shotgun!!!
Ya gotta laugh!!!

civdef

If I was running a big operation to deal with armed crime involving checkpoints and the like, I'd be embarrassed if the haul amounted to a few replicas and some antiques.

Von Manstein

Interesting.... How can a "firearm" be a repilca (which doesnt do anything) while at the same time be a "pellet gun"? (which can be dangerous - and are illegal)

To be honest I've seen this before. Theres no law that says "replca firearms" are illegal. They did try to bring it in a few yrs ago in 1990 I believe but they soon realised that defining a replica wasnt that easy.

everything from kids toys to big boys toys are "replcas". Besides I know in the UK the poliice (on the whole:P) are able to say whether a gun is really a gun and not a replica. Its pretty obvious by looking at the things.

Besides if you did hold up a bank with a replica (even a bananna) it would be taken as a real firearm in your trial (assuming the bank clerks thought it was a actual gun during the robbery). To me thats all the law u need.

Sparks

Von Manstein wrote:

Interesting.... How can a "firearm" be a repilca (which doesnt do anything) while at the same time be a "pellet gun"? (which can be dangerous - and are illegal)

Only through their error, I'm afraid. Professional PR needed...

Fallschirmjager

HA HA HA.

well this raised my spirits a bit..

firstly the same serial number because as we all know no two products on the planet have the same 'unique' number...good one glock...absolutely priceless...good to know our hard earned dosh, 20 odd million (as i recall) is spent so wisely...

maybe the poor guards knocked off the northern bank in the hope of buying a new system!!! LOL...there one for wee gerry and the lads to speculate about!


yep, the 3 'weapons' has got be the worst....I can see the gits with the guns now....what were they going to do BURST into a bank and reload a blunderbuss while threatening people that they would sting anyone with 0.2 gram hard plastic round ...jeeze man oh man have you ever met a more feckin anal retentive mob in yer life...some *bleep* in finglas with some abs plastic and 4 million people are responsible...go figure! what i think is absolutely hilarious is i cant get anyone to ship to me fecking airsoft, license or not yet the 'lads' can buy them anywhere...proves a point dont you think

and Von dont get me started on the 'holy sheet...it looks like a gun..BAN IT!'

still it is times like this that you try to see the finish line and you would need the fecking hubble telescope....and thenn...maybe

anyways thanks for the laff...i need it.

Sparks

From today's Examiner:

Firearms offences soar in target area
John Breslin
THE number of firearms offences reported in a west Dublin district that is being targeted in an ongoing garda operation increased dramatically last year.

Criminals in Blanchardstown and Finglas have accessed guns from various sources, including replica arms imported into Ireland after being ordered over the internet.

In a series of searches in Finglas in the last week, gardaí involved in Operation Crossover, which is targeting criminals in west and north Dublin, found the replica assault rifles, in the style of a AK47, MI6 and Heckler and Koch.

The guns are illegal and potentially lethal as they can be adapted to fire hard plastic and metal ball bearings.

Replica guns that can be adapted can be bought for less than 400 on the internet. The guns found during searches of houses in Finglas were posted from the US. A number of others were intercepted at the SDS centre on the Naas Road.



The guns are sold by licensed dealers in the United States and are meant for use for law enforcement training, theatrical or film production or by collectors for display.

In Blanchardstown last year, there were 79 offences recorded where a firearm was used, an increase of 21 on the previous year.

Operation Crossover was launched to clamp down on the criminal gangs in the area and the activities of two of them, both suspected of being involved in cash-in-transit robberies, have been severely hampered.

Sparks

And somewhat more light-heartedly, from the letters in today's Independent:

Sir - A headline in today's edition of your paper reads: 'Gardai blitz has gangs on the run.'

'Blitz' is a word synonymous with the Nazi invasion of Poland, which led to the extermination of millions of people. The use of this expression could lead to a severe backlash from your sensitive readership.

Perhaps you should reflect on what happened when Kevin Myers used a similar hurtful 'B' word in that other Irish broadsheet!

Fallschirmjager

did u send that response in sparks...??? MUHAHAHAHAHA



perhaps tho we could begin doing this every time some negative stuff appears...

Fallschirmjager

Fallschirmjager wrote:

why is it everytime in ireland there is an issue like this, EVERY TIME, we are all blasted with the same brush....i mean is there one journalist anywhere on this island that can look and see what was said in the article without panicking it up..and look and see that a criminal...is not the same as a law abiding person and we should not be classified together...


do we have any journalist that is prepared to deal with this issue is a level headed manner...anyone.....anyone???

why dont you write to the editor?

zebrafumbler

Theres so much inaccuracies in the report whoever filed it should be sacked. Judging by the picture of the car-15 I assume it's airsoft there refering to. The last thing I'd do is attempt to fire steal bearings through my aeg and if they are being bought over the net for $500 dollars a pop I hope there upgraded with systema parts or some cosmetic upgrade.

Fallschirmjager

original_psycho wrote:

why dont you write to the editor?

good point...i shall begin me shakespeare/James Joyce like prose tomorrow....ahem dont be expecting much in da ways of da writen.....

Fallschirmjager

zebrafumbler wrote:

Theres so much inaccuracies in the report whoever filed it should be sacked. Judging by the picture of the car-15 I assume it's airsoft there refering to. The last thing I'd do is attempt to fire steal bearings through my aeg and if they are being bought over the net for $500 dollars a pop I hope there upgraded with systema parts or some cosmetic upgrade.

good point zebra...a good way of getting a face load of exploding airsoft rifle plastic is to fire steel ball bearing via your airssoft rifle ...what i love is the hard plastic comment...nothing about 0.2 grams of hard plastic that the average summer coat would stop. for gods sake, you would do more damage running up to the person and smacking them on the head with the rifle, or maybe tripping the bank clerk up with it.... gotta love the quailty of research here ..... :rolleyes:

i certainly would not like to run outside the bank in the old balaclava, yer swag bag and your 200 round mag filled to the brim with your 'dangerous' 0.2 gram hard plastic rounds to appear in front of the ARU armed to the fecking teeth with the real ones...

i see no mention that the only madatory airsoft equipment is shatter proof plastic glasses...and of course the name is a wee bit of a giveaway...AIR ...S O F T....bloody typical.....anyways...it shows the complete paranoid reaction to the word ...gun...