Gardai are hitting back at street-level drug dealers who are using young teens as lookouts and gillys.
Locals have raised concerns that youths aged from 13 are being paid by dealers operating in communities in Dublin’s north inner city.
But gardai are targeting the groups through surveillance, drug searches and seizures.
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The Irish Mirror last week joined officers from Mountjoy Garda Station on a Day of Action, led by Sergeant Paul Daly, focusing on criminality in the area.
In one early morning raid, gardai targeted a lower-to-mid-level drug dealer who’s based in the Ballybough area.
And Superintendent Martin Mooney said youngsters are using e-scooters in their roles for drug gangs, but vowed that his team will keep targeting them. The senior officer, in the force for 40 years, told us: “In the Ballybough and Summerhill areas we have street-level dealing there.
“You can see youngsters there on the e-scooters, either as lookouts up and down the street or alternatively you see when money is paid over, they could walk over to a stash, come back with say just the bare amounts. So if they are caught they only have to say a small amount as if you’re in possession.
“But our operations do have an impact there where there is a deficit of drugs.”
He added: “And for the community aspect and to reassure them, every now and then we have days of actions where we target the lower level dealers there.”
Supt Mooney also explained that Operation Canter – which is a high-visibility uniform presence that deals with predominantly drug dealing or public order issues – is in place in the Ballybough, Summerhill and Sean McDermott areas. The Day of Action saw officers gather at Mountjoy station for a briefing by Sgt Daly on the searches they were carrying out.
Two teams were deployed and while the drugs search was happening in Ballybough, another raid was simultaneously taking place at a property in Meath.
Alloys had been stolen from a car in their district and investigations established that a bogey business was selling stolen car parts and it is suspected they were linked to the stolen property.
Supt Mooney added: “We run days of actions every so often.
“If there was unauthorised taking of stolen cars, they could be taken out there and cut up.
“So the investigation, as you can see, led out to Meath. So that’s the reason why there was a search out there. And a small amount of property recovered up there.” Later in the day, Sgt Daly, Sgt Ben Geoghegan and their colleagues were called to an incident where a man was making threats to kill.
Holding a knife and hammer at a property, the gardai disarmed the man, arresting him and later charging him over the incident.
Also a priority for gardai at Mountjoy is tackling domestic abuse, which soared nationwide due to the pandemic.
Much of the Day of Action saw gardai serving a number of protective orders in the area.
Supt Mooney said: “If we have any breach of orders, it is a pro arrest policy, as simple as that. They will be arrested, charged or brought before the courts.”
He also oversees the nearby Fitzgibbon Garda Station, reopened last year for the first time since 2011.
The station is key in their community policing as it is tailored for victims and for the use of those who live in the area.
The top garda explained: “It’s for all victims, not just sexual abuse, victims of all crimes. What’s down in Fitzgibbon St basically is the softer side of policing. I have my community policing units, CRTs which is the community response team.
“However, if I have a problem, say a series of break ins or in a series of burglaries or criminal damage or so forth, they will be tasked to either saturate the area to show prevention and visibility or in an undercover capacity there to try and catch the perpetrators.
“Also down there is the Child Protection Unit. They mostly deal with TUSLA. Anything child related they’re specifically tasked with that."
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