Shotgun at centre of Garda probe after being seized twice in separate searches

The firearm was seized twice in separate investigations

This is the shotgun that is at the centre of a major Garda investigation – after it was seized twice in separate investigations.

We have confirmed that the 12 gauge pump action shotgun was seized in the Midlands within the last year – and was also confiscated from a separate crime gang more than a decade earlier. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has now ordered an urgent investigation into how the weapon got back into circulation – despite officers seizing it for the first time in 2009.

The incident is a major embarrassment for gardaí as all seized exhibits are meant to be stored securely – especially firearms. Gardaí have now confirmed that a probe is underway and the force is so concerned by it that Commissioner Harris has sent a special report on the incident to Justice Minister Helen McEntee. The probe is a criminal investigation – and officers are desperate to know how the shotgun got into a criminal’s hands despite it being seized previously. The weapon was originally stolen from a licensed firearms dealer in 2004, before being recovered by gardaí in the Leinster area in 2009.

After the 2009 seizure, the shotgun was ballistically tested before being stored in the force’s PEMS exhibits management system, where any items are kept under lock and key. But somehow the weapon ended up in another crime gang’s hands – only for it to be seized by gardaí again last year.

A senior officer investigating that seizure later realised it was the same weapon seized in 2009 – and a major criminal investigation was launched. A Garda spokesman said: “In mid-2023, as part of an operation into a feud between two criminal gangs, a firearm was seized in the Midlands and two males arrested and subsequently charged with firearm offences.

“Two days later, following examination of the firearms, the senior investigating officer found that one of the firearms – a pump-action shotgun – had previously been seized by gardaí in the east of the country in 2009 and records showed that it was supposed to be still in possession of gardaí.” Gardaí said last night the investigation was at an advanced stage and added: “a substantial number of enquiries have been completed”. One man is before the courts over the second seizure, and we cannot say where it was seized for legal reasons.

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