Two arrests as Irish police seize stolen tools from Britain worth €50,000 headed for Ireland's black market
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Two arrests as Irish police seize stolen tools from Britain worth €50,000 headed for Ireland's black market

POLICE in Ireland have arrested two men after €50,000 worth of industrial tools and gardening machinery from Britain were seized at Dublin Port. 

The seizure, on Saturday, April 29, is part of ongoing investigations under 'Operation Thor', targeting burglary and theft in the south eastern region of Ireland.

Officers from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the Special Crime Task Force stopped two vehicles, one of which was stolen, entering Dublin Port from an inbound ferry from Britain shortly after 7.30pm.

During the stop and search, a large quantity of stolen industrial power tools and gardening machinery were seized and the men, both Irish nationals aged 38 and 29, were arrested for the handling of stolen property.

The value of the recovered stolen property is estimated to be "upward of €50,000" according to An Garda Síochána.

On Saturday 29th April 2017, as part of ongoing investigations under Operation Thor targeting Burglary and Theft,...

Posted by An Garda Síochána on Monday, 1 May 2017

The two men were detained at Irishtown Garda Station under the Criminal Justice Act 1984, and have been charged in relation to handling offences.

The pair are expected to appear at the Criminal Courts of Justice later today, May 1.

Gardaí have said investigations are ongoing with British authorities to identify the owners of the stolen items, which were destined for the Irish black market.

The discovery at Dublin port comes just weeks after the detectives from the PSNI discovered a digger worth £100,000 on a site in Armagh.

In a post on their Facebook page, PSNI Armagh announced that a ‘Detective H’ had made the discovery while carrying out a search warrant on a yard in the south of the county.

“Detective H, with colleagues from South Area Reactive and Organised Crime, led the Newry DST to a yard in the Armagh area under a warrant searching for stolen machinery.

“This digger worth £100,000 was recovered at the scene. We believe it was stolen in England last week. One male has been arrested.”