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 Gardaí in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary are again appealing to the public for assistance in their attempts to trace a 37-year-old female.
M/s Bridget Madigan, with an address at Wellington St, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, was first reported missing to Gardaí by family members on June 17th 2016 last, having originally gone missing on February 8th 2016. On the day she disappeared she had two appointments; at Western road and at O’Connell street in Clonmel which she kept, however her whereabouts following these appointments remains a mystery.
Back at the time of her disappearance, M/s Madigan was described as being 5ft-4ins in height, attractive, with long brown and blonde coloured hair.
When last positively identified, she was wearing a black padded long jacket, with black leggings and black knee high boots, latter with gold decoration around the heel and sole.
Family and Gardaí remain extremely concerned for Bridget’s present welfare and are asking that Bridget herself or indeed anyone with even a fragment of information as to her present whereabouts, should immediately contact any of her extremely worried family members or Clonmel Garda Station, Tel: (052) 6177640, the Garda Confidential Line, Tel: (1800) 666111 or indeed any Garda Station.
 Gardaí investigating, what has been described by some as being the most degenerate paedophile ring yet uncovered in the history of the Irish State, are now expected to make further arrests in the weeks ahead and possibly outside the Mid West region.
We reported on March 5th last that six women and five men had been arrested as part of this investigation, before being released without charge, with files being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The eleven individuals arrested had been questioned over a 24 hour period; detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, at Garda Stations in Tipperary, Limerick, Clare, and Cork and were understood to be members of an extended family, ranging age-wise from 20 to 70 years.
Following information understood to have been gleaned by Gardaí in the past over less than a one year period, from some 20 alleged young victims; same have lead investigators to believe that a paedophile ring may have operated beyond the Mid West region of Ireland. We also understand that some of the young victims have claimed that they were groomed from a young age and raped by known family members.
 Gardaí from Co. Tipperary, together with their colleagues from counties Laois /Offaly are understood to have recovered a substantial amount of jewellery and watches, which was stolen from a shopping centre in the midland town of Athlone, during last week’s ‘Snow Emma’.
The operation which led to the arrest of three males, was carried out by Gardaí and Detectives at a house in Ballaghmore, Lackey, Co Laois, close to the R445 on the Laois / Tipperary border, less than 7.9 kilometres (4.9 miles) from Roscrea, in Co. Tipperary.
Rings, bracelets, watches and chains, worth around €250,000, were stolen from the Golden Island Shopping Centre in Athlone, when thieves broke in through a roof into Park Jewellers in the early hours of last Saturday morning, March 3rd, when the centre was vacant following an earlier snow blizzard.
Described as a “sophisticated robbery”; the gang involved managed to deactivated all alarms at the centre and inside the shop, before stealing the jewellery and watches. They also removed the hard-drive from the centre’s CCTV system, before exiting the building through the roof area.
The robbery was not detected until Golden Island security staff opened the centre on Saturday morning last. The nature of the theft was seen as similar to other robberies around Ireland and abroad in recent times and Gardaí had suspected the involvement of an international gang.
The suspects remain held at stations in Portlaoise, Tullamore and Nenagh, where they are being questioned in relation to their suspected involvement.
Athlone Garda station are continuing to seek for information from those who might have observed unusual activity in the Golden Island area or who may have noticed anything suspicious between the hours 9.00pm on Friday and 7.00am on Saturday; to contact them at Tel: (090)6498550 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666111.
Six women and five men (11 people in total), have been arrested in counties Tipperary, Limerick and Kerry this afternoon, as part of an ongoing child sexual abuse investigation.
Gardaí from Roxboro Road, Newcastle West, Bruff, Henry Street, and Mayorstone Park, combined with the Limerick Divisional Protective Services Unit to made the arrests.
This follows on from an investigation into alleged sexual exploitation of children who were resident in the Newcastle West Garda District.
The ages of those arrested range from 20 to 70 years, and currently are being detained at Garda stations in Limerick, Cork and Clare under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984, on suspicion of the sexual exploitation of children.
 Det. Chief Supt. Patrick Lordan. Gardaí continue to warn businesses regarding online scams, that has allowed fraudsters to attempt to embezzle more than €1.3m in “invoice redirect fraud”, over a mere two-month period.
On February 28th last, we posted news of the arrest of three men and two women, following a total of four searches; three in Co. Tipperary and one in Co. Dublin.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mr Patrick Lordan, Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) and a former Garda Superintendent here at Thurles Garda Station (2010 -2013), has highlighted the need for businesses to urgently instigate more “robust policies and procedures”, with regard to “Invoice Redirect Fraud”. This can be easily undertaken by making “direct contact” with a trusted individual within any organisation with which business is being conducted.
What is Invoice Redirect Fraud?
In crimes of this nature, criminals send emails to businesses purporting to be one of their legitimate suppliers. These emails contain an instruction to change the suppliers bank account details, that the business currently use. Payments then arrive to new bank accounts that ultimately benefit the criminals, and in the majority of instances, the business does not become aware it has been a victim of such crime, until the legitimate supplier sends a reminder invoice, seeking payment.
These requests from criminals can also come via written correspondence or by a phone call, so caution should attach to any such request of this nature, and business owners are urged to remind employees to treat any request to change supplier bank account details, with extreme caution.
Just one of the examples of such fraud being attempted was Meath Co. Council, who were deceived into handing over €4.3m to an online fraudster. Having acted quickly and made contact with Gardaí when this slip-up was realized, it became possible to recover all losses involved.
The five arrests we recently reported on, were made following a probe into a similar scam, which involved Dublin Zoo. Current NECB boss, Det. Chief Supt. Mr Pat Lordan has stated: “Invoice redirect fraud is a major problem around the world and we are also targeting the crime gangs who are sending money to Ireland.”
The scam is being targeted by the Money Laundering Investigation Unit (MLIU) of the Garda Economic Crime Bureau, who work very closely with financial institution in this regard.
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