One morning last month gardaí assembled in a south Dublin policing division for a high-risk operation that had been planned with precision. A warrant had been issued for the arrest of a suspect involved in the violent anti-lockdown protest on Dublin s Grafton Street on February 27. Gardaí from the local division, backed up by the elite, highly trained Armed Response Unit (ARU), were about to move in to make an arrest.
Gardaí gathered outside the property, weapons at the ready, poised for all eventualities, including a tense confrontation. What happened next was less Line of Duty and more Monty Python. Gardaí found themselves face to face with a suspect brandishing not a weapon but his mobile phone displaying a text message that would bring a halt to their operation: the result of his Covid-19 test was positive.
One morning last month gardaí assembled in a south Dublin policing division for a high-risk operation that had been planned with precision. A warrant had been issued for the arrest of a suspect involved in the violent anti-lockdown protest on Dublin s Grafton Street on February 27. Gardaí from the local division, backed up by the elite, highly trained Armed Response Unit (ARU), were about to move in to make an arrest.