Good year for the Criminal Assets Bureau, bad year for blinged-up criminals

Seizing houses and expensive watches is just one measure the Cab uses

Listen | 26:08
Members of the CAB taking possession of the home of James 'Mago' Gately in April. Photograph: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.
Members of the CAB taking possession of the home of James 'Mago' Gately in April. Photograph: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

In 2024 the Criminal Assets Bureau seized assets and money totalling just over €17 million and sold 20 houses that had been bought with the proceeds of crime. The sale of 20 forfeited homes – the highest number to date in any one year – took in early €5 million.

And next week, in an auction timed for Black Friday, a haul of designer goods, ranging from Canada Goose jackets and Chanel handbags to Rolex watches and designer trainers, all bought with dirty money and all seized by the Cab, will go under the hammer – with the proceeds going to the exchequer.

It’s not all assets, the annual report shows that €13.3 million was collected by Revenue and just over half a million euro in Social Welfare recoveries.

So it was a good year for the head of the Cab, Det Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins who explains how he and his team of experts do their work and why, for most of them, anonymity is vitally important.

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Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey and Andrew McNair.

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