Pubdate: Sat, 06 March 1999 Source: Examiner, The (Ireland) Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 1999 Contact: http://www.examiner.ie/ Section: Editorial BUREAU GIVES A CUTTING EDGE TO ASSAULT ON CRIME THE effectiveness of the Criminal Assets Bureau as the State's most successful crime-buster has been powerfully established in the relatively short time since it was set up in the wake of the Veronica Guerin murder. Following its initial investigations, most of Dublin's major criminal figures have been hounded out of the jurisdiction. Nor have they found a safe haven abroad as some were hunted down through the close co-operation of an international police network. Among the most telling factors to emerge from the work of the CAB was the realisation that Ireland's drug barons were importing their deadly products through the port of Amsterdam. An insight into the extent of their evil trade is seen in today's investigation by The Examiner Security Correspondent charting the work of the CAB and showing how shadowy gangland figures operate freely at the heart of our society. The grim picture would be more in keeping with the operations of the Mafia. In recent years vast amounts of cannabis and cocaine have been seized off the Irish coast by the National Drugs Team. But this enormous haul, estimated to be worth a staggering IEP120m, is only the tip of an iceberg. At least as much again continues to end up on the streets of our towns and cities. Thousands of parents whose children are the target of unscrupulous criminals will welcome the CAB's move to launch tax investigations into the shadowy figures suspected of controlling much of the drugs trade in the Munster region. These are the ruthless men who rarely have direct contact with the drugs themselves. Often unemployed, they live in luxurious houses in fashionable areas, dealing in death at one remove. Grossing as much as IEP230,000 a month, they can clear profits of IEP170,000, figures which most people could not save in a lifetime. Hitting the hidden assets of criminals has proved to be a powerful weapon. In the latest operation, for instance, a tax bill for IEP640,000 has been served on a multi-millionaire gangland leader. This follows a IEP2B75m demand on another Munster drugs baron in recent times. In another significant development reported in these columns today one of Ireland's biggest drug dealers was finally convicted. Society owes a huge debt of gratitude to the tireless work of unseen men and women behind the Criminal Assets Bureau. Their efforts to deprive criminals of the proceeds of crime have given a vital cutting edge to the assault on organised crime. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea