By Herald Reporter
Wednesday January 20 2010
A young garda allegedly gave two members of The Don’s gang access to sensitive computer files at his station.
The officer is now facing an investigation over claims the gang henchmen were allowed see the Garda PULSE system.
The Herald has learned that the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation are examining reports that the garda let two associates of the Finglas gang boss into a garda station.
PULSE is the central computer system used by the force where all reported crime and most intelligence files are held.
The young garda, who denies the allegations, is based at a station in north Dublin.
Criminals
He is the latest officer suspected of leaking information to criminals.
It is understood that senior gardai have been examining the allegation for the last five months, but have been unable to confirm that the officer allowed two associates of The Don into a northside garda station to access the PULSE system.
The incident is alleged to have taken place a number of months ago, and the men were allegedly let into the station in the middle of the night, where they checked out the internal PULSE system.
Confidential information, both “hard” in terms of court appearances and offences, and “soft”, concerning the movements of criminals and persons of interest, are collated on the internal garda PULSE system.
Suspicion
The latest garda to come under scrutiny, who is single and has fewer then 10 years service in the force, has been aware for some time that he is under suspicion. The officer has denied the allegation.
However, it is believed that senior officers are treating the allegation as serious.
It is also understood that detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations (NBCI) told the garda's superintendent that the officer was not to be involved in any investigations into recent gangland killings.
Three other gardai are also been under investigation for allegedly leaking information from the PULSE computer system.
The three are believed to be linked to the Finglas gang run by a criminal nicknamed The Don, who has been linked to a number of murders, along with armed robbery and drug dealing.
Two are on restricted duties pending further inquiries and one, who is based in the north west of the city, has been suspended while a file is prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions after he was suspected of passing information on to one of the Don’s gang.
As a result of the inquiries into this garda, more than a dozen young gardai – who it is alleged were tricked into downloading information using their own log-on details on the PULSE system – are also facing internal disciplinary inquiries.
These officers are not suspected of wilful wrongdoing, however they are being treated by their superiors as being negligent in allowing themselves to be tricked into taking the infomation off the system by the other officers who were allegedly in the payment of the gang.
The Garda Press Office did not comment on the PULSE access allegation or the investigation into it.
- Herald Reporter
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