Crime gang with Limerick links plotted daring museum heists
14 members of the organised crime group were charged and received combined sentences of 71 years’ imprisonment for their involvement in the burglaries
A CRIMINAL gang, linked to Rathkeale, County Limerick, involved in a series of burglaries where millions of euros worth of artefacts were stolen from museums across the world, has featured on RTE’s ‘The Case I Can’t Forget’.
The programme focused on an organised crime group, later dubbed the Rathkeale Rovers, who played a role in stealing and smuggling rhinoceros horns to countries in Asia.
In 2010, Kathryn McCabe, a US Special Agent for the Fish and Wildlife Service Office, and her colleague came across an interesting online post. Here, a man was looking to purchase rhino horns for a property in Ireland, which came across as “odd” to the agent, considering the international commercial trade of such had been illegal since 1977.
However, even after this was officially declared a crime, the increase in demand for rhino horns continued to grow on a worldwide scale.
Speaking to RTE, Agent McCabe said when the animals became hard to reach and kill due to their declining population, "criminals" looked towards horns that were on display in museums and grand houses across Europe, with the items in question having a “higher value than cocaine per gram.”
Some time later, a sting operation was set-up to identify who was behind the online post. The culprits were Michael Hegarty and Richard ‘Kerry’ O’Brien Jr, both from Rathkeale, Co Limerick. They were convicted and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
Meanwhile, during a separate investigation, John Reid, now an ex-senior specialist at Europol's Irish desk, was looking into a criminal gang that was moving country to country and continuously scamming people.
The group in question would take money after agreeing to tarmac a person's driveway. However, they would then lay tarmac, of not great quality, or fail to return and complete the job altogether.
It was while researching this that an interesting coincidence was discovered. Locations targeted by this gang for fraud activities were also experiencing rhino horn thefts.
Cyril Claffey, of the Criminal Assets Bureau, was then solicited to help and after studying the gang’s phone numbers and car registrations, noticed a reoccurring single point of origin: Rathkeale, Co Limerick.
John Reid told RTE that this established a “clear connection” and line of enquiry. All eyes then turned to the Rathkeale Rovers organised crime group, and an international operation was organised to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice.
According to the programme, in 2011 alone, there were 26 robberies and attempted robberies of rhino horns throughout Europe and by the middle of 2012, this had risen to 56. Countries impacted included France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium and the UK.
As these numbers grew larger, museums were advised to remove their rhino horns from display but shortly later, two more burglaries were carried out at museums in the UK.
This time, the target was Chinese jade artefacts, which were valued in the millions.
Five men in total were arrested (two for the first burglary and three for the second) regarding the break-ins and some of the stolen items were recovered after being discarded nearby. One of the culprits was found to be in contact with Richard ‘Kerry’ O’Brien Jr, the Rathkeale native who served a sentence for buying rhino horns from an undercover agent previously.
All five were imprisoned.
Following these arrests, phones and hotel bookings of the suspects were analysed. It was established that hotel rooms would be arranged under a fake name but then paid for with debit cards of names belonging to suspected members of the Rathkeale Rovers.
After these connections were made, a large-scale operation took place across Ireland and the UK simultaneously, including in Rathkeale, which resulted in the arrests of 21 people. Raids also led to some of the stolen valuable items being recovered.
14 members of the organised crime group were charged in total for the offences carried out in the UK, many of which were from the same family home in Rathkeale. This included two brothers, their brother-in-law, two uncles and a cousin.
They all received combined prison sentences of 71 years in the UK.
It is believed that throughout their crime spree, the artefacts stolen were estimated to be valued in the region of £57million.
John Reid, ex-senior specialist at Europol, said this was “one of the most enjoyable operations I’ve ever worked on.”
To watch the latest episode of ‘The Case I Can’t Forget’- click here.