The three young men were arrested and detained in Fermoy in North Cork at the weekend while travelling in a car which had been stolen in a city suburb earlier.

The news emerged at a meeting of the Cork City joint policing committee (JPC) yesterday, which heard the reported incidents of criminal damage, public order, property crime, and crimes against the person in the Cork City Garda division have all declined in the last three months, compared to the same period last year.

Drugs and weapons incidents between November 2015 and January 2016 are up 6% compared to the same period last year, with a 20% spike in the number of reported incidents of possession of drugs for personal use — up from 150 to 180.

But Chief Supt Michael Finn presented figures which show the reported incidents of property crime are down 12%, with Operation Thor credited with a 38% drop in non-aggravated burglary. Crimes against the person are down 24%; traffic incidents are down 14%; and criminal damage and public order incidents are down 8%. A visible Garda presence on the streets over Christmas could account for the drop in criminal damage and public order incidents, he said. But within that category, the number of drunkenness incidents rose by 18% from 161 to 190.

The largest increase in reported incidents of property crime was theft or the unauthorised taken of a vehicle, with 47 in the last three months — up 24% from 38 such incidents in the same period last year. Chief Supt Finn said three men, believed to be part of a city-based gang thought to be in part responsible that spike, were arrested over the weekend, which should result in a decline in that figure.

A 175% increase in reported incidents of robbery from an establishment or institution — up from four to 11 in the last three months — should also decline in the next quarter, he said, following the recent arrest of one individual who has been linked to up to six of the 11 incidents.

The reported incidents of rape increased from three to eight — but this increase was due to the recent reporting of several historic alleged rapes, the JPC was told.

Theft from shops is also up 5% to 407 incidents in the last three months.

Chief Supt Finn said a 5% increase in total traffic collision over the last three months — from 858 to 902 — could be as a result of a recovering economy, with more vehicles on the road.