Gardai stop a car at a checkpoint in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, last night before it sped away with officers in pursuit

ARMED garda checkpoints are being rolled out to tackle burglary gangs that have been terrorising people in their homes and businesses.

In one of the largest ever operations of its kind, armed teams backed by helicopter support, are mounting 40 checkpoints-a-day on roads in the east and south-east.

In less than a week, the targeted round-the-clock checkpoints have resulted in gardai making more than 22 arrests and seizing over 40 vehicles.

Last night, gardai arrested another two men after their stolen BMW car was stopped at an armed checkpoint in Carlow.

The two men, one of whom is wanted by gardai in Louth for armed robbery, approached the checkpoint at Leighlinbridge at 8.40pm.

When officers quizzed the driver of the 2010 BMW regarding his driving licence, he immediately drove off at speed.

Armed gardai gave chase as the pursuit continued on a maze of rural roads.

The stolen car was fitted with false registration plates and reached speed of 200kmh.

Garda Liam Lawlor from Carlow traffic corps, assisted by Garda Paul Hogan, arrested the two men in Clara, Co Kilkenny, following a terrifying 15-minute chase through Gowran and Paulstown before it ended in Clara.

The arrested men were being held in Carlow Garda Station last night.

Senior gardai said the checkpoint blitz had also helped them to gather information on the movement of gangs and identifying hundreds of suspects.

The operation will continue at least until Christmas with the aim of tackling the burglary gangs head-on.

A group of up to 10 family-based mobs are believed to be involved in the crime wave that has targeted vulnerable rural homes and uses the country's motorway system to make rapid getaways.

The gangs, who use high-powered cars that often speed away from garda vehicles, are mostly Dublin-based.

Many of those involved are believed to be based in the Tallaght area of southwest Dublin but some also have addresses in other parts of the capital including Rathfarnham, Dun Laoghaire and Shankill.

It is estimated that more than 300 criminals are involved in the gangs.

Officers were last night manning the checkpoint on the Carlow Road outside the village of Leighlinbridge, one of dozens of routes covered by the operation yesterday.

The armed squads are being dispatched to slip-roads on the motorway system as well as secondary routes both northbound and southbound, to and from the Dublin area.

A vast stretch of countryside from Gorey, Co Wexford in the east and west to Thurles, Co Tipperary, is the focus of the operation.

Gardai have established key information about the structures of these gangs.

A major part of the operation is the use of spy technology involving registration-plate recognition software hooked up to a database of cars associated with the crimewave which is known as Automatic Number Plate Recognition.

If a car linked to a previous burglary or crime is spotted entering the area, gardai send out an alert to other officers in the vicinity.

"This is a massive ongoing operation in which local gardai, both in plain clothes and uniform, are assisted by national units including the Organised Crime Unit and the Air Support Unit every day and night," a security source said.

"Customs and Revenue are also playing their part by carrying out checks in relation to laundered diesel at these stops.

"This is being run as part of Operation Fiacla and the ultimate hope is that it will lead these gangs to realise that the country's motorway system is no longer easy pickings for these crews."

The gardai set up Operation Fiacla to combat the burglary gangs and more than 10,500 people have been arrested in just over two years.

More than 6,200 people have been charged with offences in 29 months since it began.

Irish Independent