Travelling gangs exploiting Tuam motorway

Ciara Galvin

GANGS from the east of the country are using the new M18 (Tuam) motorway to commit crimes in rural parts of Mayo, a Joint Policing Committee has heard.
At the meeting of the committee, Fianna FΡil councullir, Damien Ryan, asked Superintendent Joe McKenna if surveillance plans were in place to monitor the new motorway, which opened last year and now connects many Mayo drivers to the main motorway link with Dublin, via Tuam.
Supt McKenna admitted that the M18 had ‘opened new avenues for local and travelling gangs’ but informed the meeting that there is surveillance in place on the motorway, monitoring travelling gangs.
The Superintendent said there is ‘action’ on the surveillance and assured the meeting that surveillance meetings take place every month with the M18 motorway ‘high on the list’.
“There are more burglaries in east Mayo than the south of the county but we know they are coming from the east of the country.
“It has opened up another avenue to the county,” said the Superintendent.