Gardaí deploy secret road cameras to keep tabs on criminals

The movements of drug dealers and organised criminal gangs on the Galway to Dublin and Limerick motorways are being tracked by covert Garda cameras which use number plate recognition technology.

The hidden cameras can automatically send a text message to detectives when a ‘flagged’ car is on the move – but will not trigger any response from patrol cars, to ensure covert surveillance.

Galway-based drugs gangs and crime bosses who are originally from Limerick are being particularly targeted by the cameras, which are stationed in strategic locations along the routes.

And criminal gangs from Dublin who are using the M6 for ‘easy access’ to commit burglaries and raids on homes and businesses in Galway are also being watched.

A source told the Connacht Tribune that the cameras have been placed on the M6 and M18 motorways and can record thousands of number plates daily.

“ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras are very useful if particular vehicles are being watched. Particular criminals’ cars can be flagged on a ‘white list’, so if a known vehicle passes one, a text message is sent to certain people.

“Because they’re on a white list, a passing patrol car wouldn’t know the car has been flagged, so they won’t pull it, and potentially jeopardise the surveillance. But the movement has still been logged.

“Then there are vehicles that are openly flagged for having been used in crimes that can be pulled over by a patrol car, while vehicles can also have a ‘health warning’, if the occupants could pose a danger to Gardaí.

“The surveillance can be done remotely, and they are very effective in pre-empting criminal activity in certain areas. On the Galway-Limerick road, it’s mostly people involved in drugs, because there are some big shots connected to Limerick who are living in Galway," the source said.

See full story in this week's Connacht Tribune.