The Criminal Assets Bureau handed over almost €15m to the exchequer last year from asset seizures, auctions and proceeds of crime actions, according to its annual report.
The report also shows it sold 18 properties in 2025.
The luxury homes include the Co Leitrim bungalow belonging to the Kinahan gang drug dealer Niall Smith and the lavishly renovated Dublin city home of the rival Hutch gang member James ‘Mago’ Gately.
CAB also sold the home of Eduard Chiper, who it described as the leader of a transnational organised crime group consisting of Moldovans living in Ireland, Moldova and Spain.
The gang is involved in smuggling drugs and firearms.
CAB’s latest annual report for 2025 shows it returned over €14.9m to the exchequer.
Some €10.7m was tax on criminals’ wealth, another €3.47m comprised the proceeds of crime, while just over €655,000 was money recovered or saved from social protection.
The 18 properties it seized from criminals in nine counties were sold for over €4.3m.
CAB also froze 137 assets worth over €10m last year.
These include almost €2m in cash, half a million euro worth of cars, €66,000 worth of jewellery and designer goods and over €7.5m worth of real estate.
CAB sold at auction an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak for over €38,000
CAB auctioned off much of the jewellery and designer goods.
Eighteen designer watches sold for €156,870 which included an Audemars Piquet 18-carat rose gold royal oak watch, which sold for €38,020, and a Gold Gent’s Rolex watch for €21,060.
Three pieces of jewellery were sold for €10,235 including a yellow and white gold zirconia set chain which sold for €7,070.
A Krugerrand 1oz Gold Bullion Coin sold for €3,700 at auction while four designer handbags sold for €4,650 with a Chanel wallet bag selling for €1,785 and a Louis Vuitton George’s Bag selling for €1,010.
Some of the money has been returned to the community safety fund for local projects in some of the areas worst affected by drugs and organised crime.
CAB also carried out 208 searches in 16 counties here and three other searches in Spain with the assistance of local law enforcement.
It said that international co-operation also increased with CAB submitting 23 requests for assistance to seven other countries, while in turn, it received 132 requests from 21 countries.
A South African Krugerrand 1974 1 oz gold coin sold for €3,700
The bureau said it will consider an investigation into any criminal activity which acquires wealth.
The value of the assets under the new proceeds of crime cases instigated by the Bureau ranged in value from €77,000 to €4.5m.
The Minister for Justice said the return of almost €15m to the exchequer was “highly significant”.
Jim O’Callaghan said that organised crime is driven by money and the harder it is for organised crime groups to make, obtain, launder and keep the money, the weaker they become.
Case studies
Eduard Chiper – Moldovan Organised Crime Group
The luxury home of Eduard Chiper in Ballymakenny in Co Louth which was renovated for over €1m was sold last year.
CAB described Eduard Chiper as the leader of a transnational organised crime group consisting of Moldovans living in Ireland, Moldova and Spain involved in the smuggling of firearms and controlled drugs.
The house was sold €649,000, along with a Mercedes Benz.
Over €100,000 was also seized from bank accounts and in cash.
Eduard Chiper was described as the leader of a transnational crime group
CAB seized Eduard Chiper’s home in Co Louth
Niall Smith – Kinahan Cannabis Grower
One of the Kinahan Organised Crime Groups’ cannabis growers, Niall Smith, who kept a low profile and didn’t like the limelight while he cultivated cannabis in wholesale quantities in homes all over the country, for over ten years.
CAB seized land, barns and two houses in Leitrim from him and sold them for over €257,000.
Smith had spent over €420,000 refurbishing one of the houses
Ross Browning – Kinahan ‘principal representative’
Originally from Hardwicke Street flats in Dublin, Ross Browning, according to the gardaí, is “a close and trusted lieutenant” of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group and their “principal representative” in this country.
A convicted criminal he has been involved in cash and transit robberies.
CAB seized over €1.5m worth of assets from Ross Browning
In recent years he has been living in Spain.
The High Court ruled that Browning’s various properties, vehicles and jewellery were the proceeds of crime despite his attempts to disguise the origin of the money through other family members and CAB seized over €1.5m worth of assets from him.
Last year it sold one of his houses in Finglas in Dublin for €250,000.
It had already sold his renovated cottage with a yard, a manure store, a large shed, stables, a paddocks and an exercise arena for €550,000.
CAB seized Ross Browning’s house in Finglas
James ‘Mago’ Gately – Hutch Organised Crime Group
One of the rival Hutch Organised Crime Groups senior figures was also targeted by CAB last year. It seized James ‘Mago’ Gately’s home in Dublin and sold it last year for over €308,000.
The three-bedroom property had been lavishly renovated and extended at a cost of over €440,000 and refurbished with a new driveway, boundary walls and back garden.
However, it was also extensively damaged before the CAB took it over and the Bureau made an application pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Act that Gately and his partner “make good or pay for the damage”.
The High Court has yet to give judgement on the case.
Stefan Saunders
Stefan Saunders was, for a time, one of the country’s most prolific and dangerous armed robbers.
The 46-year-old was part of a gang of tiger kidnappers and cash in transit raiders and suspected of being involved in several high-profile crimes including the armed robbery of over €1.8m from a Brinks Allied security van in Artane in Dublin in January 2005.
Stefan Saunders’ Clonee home was sold by CAB
Stefan and his partner Tammy then went on “a spending spree” on expensive cars, houses and extensive renovations from April 2005 until 2007.
This included a six-week luxury holiday in Orlando with extended family, the purchase of two BMWs, the house in Hazelbury Park in Clonee for €360,000, a €125,000 refurbishment and extension to the house and a €768,000 ‘shortfall’ in declared income.
Stefan Saunders paid for the extension to the side, back and attic of the house in cash, including €30,000 to a carpenter which was handed over €5,000 at a time in bundles of €50 notes.
CAB seized and sold the house for €573,000.
Mary Cash
The convicted criminal Mary Cash claimed she had worked as an escort in Australia as well as a cleaner, childminder while her husband Andy did power-washing, tarmacking and gravel work.
She said they earned €150,000 and she was able to deposit over €125,000 in the nine months between March and December 2015 to buy a house on Harpur’s Lane in Portlaoise.
The house at Harpur’s Lane in Portlaoise sold for €91,000
However, CAB said she was a driver for her husband, a member of a notorious travelling burglary gang which carried out robberies all over the country and that over €420,000 was lodged to her bank account over a ten-year period.
The High Court found the house was bought by the proceeds of crime, a judgment which upheld by the Court of Appeal.
CAB seized and sold her home in Laois along with a Volkswagen Golf, five designer Chanel handbags valued at €13,700, a Cartier silver watch valued at €2,000, a Chanel quartz watch valued at €900, a 14-carat white gold bracelet valued at €1,900, a 14-carat white gold bracelet valued at €2,300, a 14-carat white gold bracelet valued at €2,500, £6,900 in cash and €700 in cash.